Top Secret Valor
by thebigianthead
Summary: When NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs and his team investigate a Marine Corps General's death, an Air Force Lieutenant General named Jack O'Neill becomes a person of interest. To complicate things, Secretary of the Navy Clayton Jarvis is pressuring NCIS Director Leon Vance who pressures Gibbs to get information about a special project, also known as a top secret program.
1. Chapter 1

UPDATE: 5/4/2013 - Thanks very much for all the reviews. I appreciate your feedback and thoughts. To those who didn't like many aspects of my story, I'm sorry you were disappointed. I have tried to respond to all the signed reviews and personal messages, but I can't reply to the authors of the anonymous reviews. It's a story. Just a story. I'm sorry if you didn't like my characterization of DiNozzo or if you think I'm wrong about Gibbs or Vance or Abby or Ziva. I don't remember proof of O'Neill's service, whether he went to the AFA or enlisted or what. I chose to write what I did. As for Gibbs, well I remember a few times where he pushed to be read in on things that they really didn't need to know about. It's just a story and I thank everyone who reads it or has already read it. I'm okay with all the comments. Hopefully they will make me a better writer. :)

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**Story title: Top Secret Valor**

Summary: When Gibbs and the team investigate a marine's death, an Air Force Lieutenant General becomes a person of interest. To complicate things, SecNav Jarvis pressures Vance who pressures Gibbs to get information about a secret program.

Crossover story: NCIS and Stargate SG-1. (SG-1 because Jack is more recognizable with it than SGA or SGU. And none of them have new episodes.)

Timeline: It's Feb-Mar 2013. NCIS is right where they are in the series. SGC is still at Cheyenne Mountain. O'Neill has an office at the Pentagon and is in charge of everything Stargate related; the gate, all the bases, people, the ships, aliens on Earth, etc. Everything.

Category: general, kind of a mystery as Gibbs learns more

Rating: K+

Warnings: A few spoilers for a few episodes, mostly SG eps. There shouldn't be any adult themes, bad language or violence.

Note: O'Neill's history, medals and ribbons in this story are a little different from the Stargate series. (SG-1, Atlantis, Universe) Other service records, history and things might be different too. Original characters are mine, but anybody can use them. Just keep them honorable.

Disclaimer: I own nothing NCIS or Stargate. I'm just borrowing the characters for a bit.

And finally, all mistakes are mine.

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Gibbs hesitated at the top of the stairs. His knee throbbed, his stomach growled and he recognized the beginnings of a headache. It was late in the day, and in just 45 short minutes, three-quarters of an hour, not that long at all, he had hoped to be out the door and on his way home. That was not going to happen now. He'd been in Director Leon Vance's office receiving his latest tongue lashing when a call came through from the SecNav. After a short explanation that wasn't really an explanation at all, and with a look that screamed 'We aren't done' and 'Don't ruffle any feathers,' his boss sent him on his way to collect his team.

Shifting his weight on his feet and then leaning heavily on the handrail, Gibbs looked down into the bullpen where his three agents were at their desks. Over the years the ability to read people had given him an edge, but he didn't need that skill to see that his agents had checked out before quitting time. Ziva David, perched on the corner of her desk, was talking on her cell phone. She was smiling coyly while her fingers combed playfully through her hair, and she was obviously pleased with the person on the other end of the call. Moving smoothly to her chair, the lithe brunette leaned back crossing her legs and nodding. She'd turned out to be a first class agent, but Gibbs knew he needed to talk to her about picking up bad habits from the others, especially from DiNozzo.

Tim McGee was using his computer. His fingers were clicking madly on the keys; his eyes fixed intently on whatever he saw on the screen. File folders on his desk were all closed and neatly stacked, so Gibbs was pretty sure he wasn't doing anything work related. He remembered a snippet of conversation between McGee and Abby and guessed that the kid was playing a computer game. Gibbs resigned himself to talking to him too. Looking at his senior field agent, Gibbs clenched his jaw until it hurt, and then got some satisfaction from squeezing the banister tightly with his left hand. Both hands had been stiff in the cold weather, the left thumb especially painful, and he made a mental note to stop by the drug store on his way home as he looked down.

Counting down the 44 minutes to quitting time, Tony DiNozzo was playing too. He'd grumbled all day about the tedious work and it had been nearly impossible to keep him at his desk, let alone focused on cold case work. Yet there he was, completely fixated on twirling several pens between the fingers of both his hands. The folders that he should have been going through were scattered on the floor. Maybe they'd been in a neat pile, maybe not, to make room for the 14 or 15 different colored pens he wasn't playing with at that moment.

Gibbs shifted his gaze to others in the office area. Everyone was busy working, looking and acting professional, and disappointment hung like a storm cloud over him. His team did good work, on occasion great work, but they had gotten lax and sloppy, and their office work habits needed improvement. Gibbs took a moment to control his emotions before using his cell phone to call Ducky. Then he descended the stairs, noticing the twinge in his knee every other step.

Four agents, though they were working, were instantly aware of his presence and glanced up at him, but three agents, his agents, were oblivious. On another day he probably would have growled at them, maybe even smacked their heads, but this day, this day he knew they would be as thrilled about the late in the day assignment as he was. It wasn't fitting punishment for their office behavior, but it was a start, and for a moment he didn't have much regret about having to alter his own plan for the evening, except the drug store. He came out from behind the partition near DiNozzo to make his presence known and announced, "Saddle up. We're going to Arlington."

Pens flew from DiNozzo's hands, ending up on the flat carpet as his chest flattened against the desktop. His face fell in disappointment, but was it the assignment or dropping the pens? Having Gibbs in his field of vision made his brain snap and he responded by loudly stammering, "Ar…Arlington, Boss?"

McGee's head jerked up spectacularly and his fingers were suddenly motionless above the keyboard. Seeing DiNozzo spread across the desk made him smile, and with surprise in his voice he asked, "What's in Arlington?"

Ignoring the questions and with a long, hard look at Ziva, who was still on the phone, Gibbs handed a piece of paper over to McGee saying, "Confirm that address."

Ziva didn't need another look from Gibbs to know it was time to end her call, which she did so quickly before catching Tony's eye and mouthing 'What?' The two agents were quickly out of their chairs and near McGee's desk when Tony whispered "traffic" and made a face, while Ziva muttered back, "I have a date."

Gibbs heard Ziva and Tony and glared at them, almost as if daring them to say anything else. They were bothered enough to look guilty, so he quickly retrieved his weapon from his desk and was back at McGee's side before the kid was finished with the address search.

McGee's ears had perked up with the comments, but knowing Gibbs wouldn't be happy, he dipped his head a little and kept working. He didn't have a clue that he was being like DiNozzo when his brain touched on quizzing Ziva about her date. Back on task and after a few more keystrokes he mumbled, "There's no name associated with it." He tried a different database of property records listing homeowner information and a reverse directory and then mumbled some more. Finally, knowing it would be mere seconds before Gibbs barked at him, he announced, "The property is leased by the US Government." He could feel Gibbs glowering at him and the pressure was tremendous so he quickly clarified. "Boss, I don't have access to the records to confirm who lives at that address."

Gibbs had a feeling when Vance gave him the assignment and then the address. It confirmed to him that he should always trust his gut. It was time to bail out McGee and get the team moving. All he needed was Vance coming to the bullpen to find out why they hadn't left yet. "Wheeler, Ronald S., Marine Corps."

Confused at first or maybe just a little surprised, McGee hesitated. Gibbs noticed and without wasting any time he repeated the name. "Wheeler, McGee, Ronald S."

Tim snapped to and in only a few seconds declared, "Here it is." Gibbs didn't move, but both Tony and Ziva leaned over and tilted their heads to get a look at the screen. McGee ignored them. "Ronald S. Wheeler, 57, stationed at the Pentagon."

Before Tim could say anything else, Gibbs asked, "What department?"

Tim was ready, having anticipated the request for more information, and he was good at opening multiple windows in the browser. "Uh, it doesn't say."

Anticipating the next request, Tim transferred the information to the plasma and started adjusting and rearranging the windows of information. "Uh... he's a two star general. Assistant director of... something... and his record of assignments and postings is almost non-existent."

Tony jumped in with, "How can that be?"

Tim added, "He's not listed on the official Pentagon personnel roster."

All four were looking for his name from the Joint Chiefs down to the Defense Intelligence Agency to everyone listed under the Secretary of the Navy. His name wasn't anywhere to be found. The contact list for the Department of Defense popped up separately and they all scrutinized it. No Ronald S. Wheeler was listed.

Ziva stated what she thought was obvious. "He does not exist."

Tim read to them from his computer screen. "Boss, he's a Distinguished graduate of the Amphibious Warfare School, the School of Advanced Warfighting and graduated from the Marine Corps Command and Staff College. And he has a Masters of Science Degree in National Security Strategy and Management."

Tony was officially curious now and muttered, "What's so secret about this non-existent guy?"

"McGee?"

The one word question, just his name, reminded the younger field agent that his boss was counting on him. "I tried searching all the Pentagon personnel records, boss. His name doesn't come up at all."

Gibbs stared at the plasma and asked, "How did you know he had an office in the Pentagon if his name doesn't come up anywhere?"

Tim hadn't thought of that, not yet anyway. His hands roamed over the keyboard hoping to get back to the screen where he saw the initial information. He could feel the others staring and glaring at him, but some results can't be rushed. Finally he found it.

"Just says Pentagon. No office number or anything else."

Gibbs knew they needed to get going, but the assignment was really starting to churn his gut. "Mailing address?"

Click, click, click and Tim put it up. Gibbs stared at it, noticing there wasn't a department or office number, just the zip code.

Tim, Ziva and Tony watched Gibbs stare at the screen. For all their years of experience they still had trouble making the leaps that Gibbs seemed to accomplish regularly and with little effort.

"Something you want to share with us, Gibbs?"

Tim and Tony stared at Ziva like she had two heads. How dare she question Gibbs the Great while he was thinking.

"Yeah, Ziva." Gibbs turned to look at the three and asked, "Why does a Marine two star have his official mail going to the Department of the Air Force?"

Tony, Tim and Ziva were caught completely by surprise with that bit of information and just stood watching Gibbs study the plasma. Tony couldn't help thinking of the film "Ghostbusters." Marines and airmen together had to be right in there with forty years of darkness, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together and mass hysteria, but he didn't voice his musings.

McGee was still trying to bring up information when he asked, "Uh, Boss, why are we investigating General Wheeler?"

"Because he died... at GW Hospital." Gibbs continued to look at the information. The man had an awful lot of awards and commendations for a guy with such a thin service record. It was obvious it had been redacted. Gibbs couldn't see anything telling who Wheeler reported to, but it had to be someone. He was glad to be on good terms with the Commandant because he might need to ask about Ronald Wheeler; who he was, what he did and why the guy was buddy-buddy with the Air Force.

Tim quipped sarcastically, "We're investigating a death at a hospital and it's not Bethesda?"

Tony opened his mouth, but Ziva quickly asked, "Then why are we going to Arlington?

Gibbs looked at his team pointedly. "He collapsed at home and was transported to the hospital where he was DOA."

McGee couldn't help thinking aloud. "So... he wasn't murdered?"

Gibbs responded sarcastically, "Apparently not, but don't know for sure."

Ziva understood and delivered an explanation. "NCIS looks into all deaths of active duty Marine Corps and Navy personnel."

Gibbs had just about had enough. "Yeah, NCIS does, but that doesn't mean we do."

All deaths were looked into, but not usually by Gibbs and his team. Unless there was something unusual or sinister or questionable about the way they had died. Ducky and other NCIS medical examiners reviewed death certificates, performed autopsies when necessary, and agents gathered and recorded all the basic information. Lots of military personnel died in hospitals everyday and most of the time there was nothing that needed investigating.

A whine came from behind Ziva. "But why us and why now?" Gibbs peered around her and caught the eye of his senior field agent. He didn't need to say a word as Tony's mouth snapped shut, he stood a little taller and mumbled something that sounded like sorry.

Tim sensed the tension and jumped in with, "He's survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters."

So, a marine, a son, a husband and father. Gibbs grabbed his coat and started for the elevator. "C'mon, let's go talk to the family."

tbc

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Thanks for reading. Reviews are very much appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

_So, a marine, a son, a husband and father. Gibbs grabbed his coat and started for the elevator. "C'mon, let's go talk to the family."_

After a couple of seconds they grabbed their coats and packs and trailed after Gibbs to the elevator.

Ziva was suddenly feeling the same exasperation as DiNozzo and whispered, "All of us?"

Before pushing the down button, Gibbs half turned and growled, "All of us."

If he had to work then so did they. There wasn't any reason right then to go to the hospital because Ducky would take care of any needed autopsy and a review of the medical records, so that left the home and family and the man's work place. No way were they going to get statements from anyone at the Pentagon this late in the day, especially for a death that was not the result of a crime, at least probably not. Gibbs ignored his team and concentrated on Vance's instructions. "Investigate his death, but find out everything you can about his job. SecNav wants to know everything, Gibbs."

The eight or nine mile drive, accomplished in strained silence, took 19 minutes. All things considered the traffic wasn't too bad, just a little sluggish. Gibbs drove fast as usual, DC's skyline view behind them, and they arrived in good time. Posted signs in the residential area warned that parking on the street was restricted, but Gibbs knew that their government vehicle being used for official business would be exempt from any laws like that. He noticed at least six other vehicles on the street with government plates, but it was probably a government employee neighborhood so he didn't go any farther with the thought.

He pulled to the curb in front of the home behind one of the other government cars. The sun was going down fast leaving everything in shadows as they made their way from the car, pulling on gloves or putting hands in pockets in the frosty air. Mature trees without leaves were like silent sentinels all around them. There were lights on in the home and two large, dark, seven passenger SUVs were sitting in the long driveway, parked close to the double garage doors. As they passed by, Gibbs heard a ticking sound and he put his hand lightly on the hood: the engine was still a little warm in the cold evening air. Not wanting to crowd the family with four agents all at once on the front porch, Gibbs flashed a look behind him and DiNozzo and Ziva, the two who had been the most vocal and upset about the drive to Arlington, stopped at the edge of the walkway, letting Gibbs and Tim go alone the rest of the way.

Ziva and Tony wanted to scream at Gibbs. Why did the four of them have to come at all? Why did everyone have to get out of the warm car only to have two of them left behind? Just as Gibbs was about to press the doorbell button his body language changed and suddenly Ziva and Tony were on high alert. Instead of pressing the button Gibbs moved to the side and was looking through the thick glass into the foyer of the home. Tim saw what he saw and immediately drew his weapon.

Rushing up to the porch the two agents arrived in time to hear Gibbs whisper, "One armed male, just standing there."

Stepping back down from the porch, Gibbs took a moment to think.

McGee noticed the home security and whispered, "Expensive lock to go with the expensive door."

"How do you know the guy is armed?" Tony wanted to know how they'd gone from talking to a family to a guy with a gun.

Gibbs kept his voice very low. "Well DiNozzo, the glass is thick, but it's clear enough. The guy isn't wearing a coat and it's easy to make out the sling holster against his white shirt."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Fed?"

"Maybe, but what's he doing here?"

"We should kick down the door and take him by surprise." The three men stared at Ziva as she came up with yet another option in a loud whisper. "Or we could get him to open the door and then overpower him."

Ignoring her suggestions Gibbs quietly announced, "DiNozzo, David, go around back." The two looked like they wanted to protest, but they left without another word.

A font of information, Tim quietly told Gibbs, "Reinforced frame, steel door and that's an Ultimate lock. It can't be picked or broken."

With a smug look Gibbs told him, "I thought I'd just ring the doorbell."

Tim looked alarmed. "Boss?"

"McGee, we have no warrant. We have no probable cause. What do you want to do?"

Tim looked uncertain. "It's a guy with a gun."

Even after about eight years as a field agent, Tim still wasn't completely sure of himself around his boss. Gibbs always made him question himself... and it was always nerve-wracking to go into a situation where someone besides them was armed. On the other hand, it was better to know that the man had a gun than to not know. He had to admit it was a private home and they didn't have exigent circumstances. Finally he gave a nod to Gibbs. "Okay, I guess we ring and see who answers."

Tony and Ziva walked quickly around the side of the house where security lights turned on as they moved, following and leading them at the same time. There wasn't a fence and the walkway was level so in only a short time they were in the backyard. Tall trees provided privacy on three sides and there were lights on in the back of the house, but curtains kept them from seeing anything inside. Splitting up, one headed to the door while the other intended to go farther down to a large picture window. Neither one made it to their destination.

Gibbs and McGee stood on the illuminated porch. Tim was nervous and had his weapon out, concealed at his side while Gibbs had his credentials in his left hand. He didn't pull his gun, he didn't even have his right hand that close to the holster, but he was prepared. The man inside was still visible in outline and Gibbs decided to knock rather than ring the bell. One knock and the man reacted immediately, stepping away from their view and Gibbs almost reached for his weapon. Almost.

"May I help you?"

The door hadn't opened, but the deep male voice from behind and to the side gave them a start and Gibbs whirled around to face the unknown threat. McGee was only a fraction of a second behind Gibbs in turning and he stood in a two-handed stance getting ready to fire. The threat turned out to be one man. It had gotten quite dark and his black overcoat blended into the background leaving only his face and hands somewhat visible.

Gibbs displayed his credentials saying, "Special Agent Gibbs... and Special Agent McGee. NCIS."

"Secret Service, gentlemen. Agent McGee, lower your weapon."

The man could be SS, but without proof, well, a federal agent always wants proof. Gibbs told him, "Let's see your credentials."

"We will shoot you," another voice warned. And suddenly two more men stepped out of the darkness and were visible. They too were dressed in black overcoats, but as they stepped closer he saw their white shirts, ties and lapel pins. Gibbs watched as the first man held up his own creds while the other two kept their weapons pointed at himself and McGee. With his brain spinning about secret service agents at the dead General's home, Gibbs spoke soft and low to his younger agent.

"McGee."

Tim didn't like it, but he let his weapon drop from his hand so it was only supported by his index finger and then he raised his right hand to show it was empty. He was slow to return the gun to the holster and the man closest to them took it from him. Gibbs scowled, vowing to talk to McGee later on.

"Why'd you wait so long to find out who we are?"

With a cocky smile the first agent replied, "You weren't a threat...yet." Then he stepped closer. "Truth is I wasn't concerned about you being on the porch." He looked from Gibbs to McGee, "until _you_ pulled your weapon."

They heard sounds and looked around to see Tony and Ziva arrive from around the side of the house, escorted by two men.

"Sorry, boss. They caught us by surprise and kind of disarmed us."

Gibbs gave them a pointed look and a minute shake of his head. All three had given over their weapons, but it wasn't the time to discuss it. Secret service meant the team had obviously interrupted a visit of some kind at the residence. The deceased had been a general, but there were lots of generals so why was he so special and if the SS agents weren't there for the family, who was there at the house that ranked secret service protection? That was the $64,000 question.

The agent with McGee's weapon spoke up. "What are you doing here, Special Agent Gibbs?"

"Need to talk to the wife, or family, in the home."

"This about General Wheeler's death?"

Gibbs scrutinized the agent, who was tall, dark and about 35 years old.

With a scowl the agent pressed. "You didn't call first."

Gibbs did his best to keep from smirking. "No, no we didn't."

The agent kept looking at Gibbs, but he was clearly listening to someone speaking to him through his earwig. Then the four NCIS agents watched as men and women appeared from the darkness around the house and across the street. A car from the street pulled into the driveway and four more vehicles materialized under the glowing streetlights on the street.

Obeying a hand wave, Gibbs and Tim stepped off the porch and with Ziva and Tony behind them, they were herded over to the far side away from the door and walkway where three agents stayed with them. The door to the house opened and four men came out. Two were uniformed soldiers, but the NCIS team stood in awe when they recognized the highly decorated Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

With wide eyes, DiNozzo couldn't keep his mouth shut and asked, "Who's the other guy, boss? He looks a little familiar."

Gibbs wasn't surprised and it was kind of dark. In a low voice he revealed, "White House Chief of Staff."

Ziva mumbled, "Why would he be here?"

DiNozzo couldn't resist and replied, "Because the President is on a date night trip to New York City?"

They watched the Chairman and the Chief of Staff get in a SUV with the soldiers and two men in top coats while five others piled into another SUV. Both cars pulled out of the driveway and left, sandwiched between two more big SUVs from the street. The yard and street now had fewer people standing around, but it was still an impressive presence of protection. Another SUV pulled into the driveway and parked behind the one that was still there. The driver stayed put, but a uniformed marine got out and stood waiting.

The front door of the home opened again and three men stepped out to the porch. McGee gasped, "That's the Secretary of Defense," before DiNozzo quietly quipped, "First the head general and the white house guy... and now the Secretary of Defense? Just who was our dead guy?"

Gibbs ignored his SFA. Instead he noticed the airmen with dark blue berets and he leaned forward to look inside the house through the still open door. A man and a woman were standing, talking, and neither seemed aware that they were being observed. Ziva saw Gibbs looking and peered into the home too. The couple spoke for only a couple more seconds and then the guy reached out and warmly hugged the willing woman, one hand snaked around her back while the other hand went to the back of her head. They stayed that way for many seconds before separating, and then the man moved to the entry where he spoke briefly to someone they couldn't see. The two shook hands before the silver-haired man walked out the door with one of the airmen closing it gently behind him.

None of them could see his features very well because of his cover, but the man wore a blue all-weather coat with stars on his shoulders. They watched the general get in the car with the SecDef, the airmen get in a car with the marine, secret service agents piled in cars and in only a few seconds all the vehicles from the driveway and street had driven off leaving only one man, a SS agent, with the NCIS team. The second caravan had disappeared from sight when the front door opened again.

"Special Agent Gibbs, Mrs. Wheeler will speak to you now." The others seemed startled when the lone agent spoke, but Gibbs had been ready. He figured if they were not going to see the family that evening that they would have been sent on their way long ago.

"My agents need their firearms returned to them."

Tony piped in with, "Phones too, boss," while Ziva grumbled, "And my knives."

tbc

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Thanks very much for reading. Please review. I'd really appreciate it.


	3. Chapter 3

_"My agents need their weapons returned to them."_

Tony piped in with, "Phones too, boss," while Ziva grumbled, "And my knives."

With weapons back in place, the four entered the house behind an agent who directed them to a living room where Elizabeth Wheeler was waiting. Gibbs noticed right away that she'd been crying, her eyes puffy and red, but she offered a small smile when he approached.

"Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS. I'm sorry for your loss, Mrs. Wheeler." He didn't bother introducing his team.

In a soft, controlled voice she replied, "Thank you, Agent Gibbs. Please sit down. Would you like some coffee?"

Flames danced in the fireplace; soft lamp light bathed the room. Gibbs sat on the sofa with the woman, while Tim and Ziva got comfortable in chairs. Tony, who was still angry about the assignment and being disarmed, but in awe of the company this woman had in her home just a few minutes before, stood between the chairs. He was more than curious about General Wheeler and couldn't wait for Gibbs to start asking questions. The armed man who had started it all stayed in the room with them, standing over by the French doors.

Ten minutes later it was obvious that Gibbs was a little frustrated. The coffee was excellent, but he wasn't getting anywhere on the case. Case? Was it a case? The woman claimed her husband had been posted in DC for about four years, but she didn't know where in the Pentagon her husband worked or what he did, other than normal military things... general things. He'd traveled to Colorado Springs earlier in the week, for what she had no idea. At least twice a year he went there, usually for three days, and this last year he had gone three times. He never talked about his work, in fact he had never talked about his work in all the years they had been married. She might as well have said, "I accepted it and never questioned it."

They didn't socialize much with anyone outside their circle of friends and rarely attended any of the official dinners or events. They preferred not to be typical Washington movers and shakers, in fact Mrs. Wheeler didn't play bridge and her husband didn't shoot skeet. She was not aware of any enemies and couldn't imagine anyone wanting to hurt her husband or their family.

As for his death, he'd not been feeling well, mostly just extremely tried, and came home before lunch only to collapse after reaching for a bottle of juice in the refrigerator. The neighbor's son, home on leave, performed CPR with Mrs. Wheeler's help. EMS had arrived in a speedy time and done their best, but the general was pronounced dead at the hospital. They might talk to the young man, but it wasn't necessary yet. They had his name and address and could check his service record. The deceased never got the chance to eat or drink at the house so no food and drink samples were necessary. They might ask to look in his car, but not yet.

Gibbs couldn't stop thinking about how they'd gotten there. SecNav had personally called Vance to get Gibbs and the team to investigate. Investigate what? The man undoubtedly had a medical condition and dropped dead. Ducky would figure it out and there would be no case. Gibbs was remembering Vance's exact words. "Find out everything you can about his job. He's part of some program. SecNav is out of the loop and wants to know everything, Gibbs.'

Curious himself, he asked, "Mrs. Wheeler, you might not know what your husband's job was all about, but you have to know it was very important for the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the White House Chief of Staff to make a condolence call tonight."

Gibbs could swear she looked embarrassed, but she didn't say anything. Tony couldn't stand it any longer and jumped in. "Seriously? You have no clue why the White House Chief of Staff would visit you?" Tim and Ziva appeared amazed at his audacity.

Mrs. Wheeler didn't seem offended as she turned to look at him. "I never met him before today."

Tony grinned, but Tim's eyes narrowed. "But you have met the others?"

She nodded, like hosting the SecDef and the CJCS was the most normal thing in the world.

Ziva had seen Tim and Tony get away with questions so she figured she could also. "What about the man you hugged so affectionately?"

Mrs. wheeler blushed and looked down at her hands in her lap. Oh yeah, there was history there. She seemed to take a cleansing breath before speaking, almost in a whisper. "He saved Ron's life in Kuwait."

Gibbs resumed the questioning. "Will you tell us his name, Mrs. Wheeler?"

For just a moment Gibbs thought she looked wistful, but then it was gone and just a sad smile remained. The man was definitely important to her. The question was how important and did their relationship have anything to do with the general's death?

Mrs. Wheeler didn't respond quickly enough to the question for Tony. He stepped around McGee's chair and stood right in front of the coffee table. His mind was already in the gutter thinking about the wife killing the husband when he asked, "What exactly is your relationship with the mysterious male visitor?"

From the French doors came a rebellious reply. "You have no right to insinuate that my mother is having a romantic relationship with General O'Neill."

Everyone except Mrs. Wheeler turned their heads to look at the guy.

Tim couldn't help himself and squeaked out, in a manly way of course, the most obvious question. "Your mother?"

Mrs. Wheeler reached out her hand and said, "It's okay, MJ," as he joined her on the sofa, sitting on the ample arm rest.

The defensive young man looked from Tim to Ziva and up at Tony before settling his gaze on the team leader seated on the other side of his mom. Gibbs looked at him searchingly, recognizing the familial traits of both mother and father in his facial features. Then he remembered the biographical information; two daughters and two sons. And he was also reminded about not stirring things up. DiNozzo had gotten a little out of hand, not him, but he was responsible for everything his team did so, best to tread carefully.

In a reassuring voice he asked, "Is General O'Neill a family friend?"

With the question DiNozzo backed away from the coffee table.

Mrs. Wheeler kept hold of her son's hand and answered simply, "Yes."

Gibbs must have looked skeptical because the son jumped in. "I've known him my whole life. He's my Godfather."

Okay. "Four children. Which one are you?"

"I'm Marcus. Marcus John, named after the man who saved my Dad's life."

Gibbs noted the kid didn't admit to being oldest, youngest or middle. "I'm sorry about your father." The son looked immensely sad for a moment before regaining his composure so Gibbs asked, "You're armed... in your folk's house. Why?"

"I had only been here for a few minutes when they arrived."

Tony didn't like the kid and he didn't care that his dad had just died. "You have a permit for concealed carry?"

Marcus nodded. "I'm ATF." He removed his holster and set it down on the end table. "It's habit," he explained and shrugged.

Tony's eyebrows went way up. The kid was pretty young. At least he looked young.

Gibbs thought the kid looked young too, but he'd been fooled before. The secret service agents had not disarmed the son, obviously they didn't consider him a threat, so Gibbs decided not to dwell on it. Instead he thought he'd try to get some information.

"Do you know anything about your Dad's job at the Pentagon?"

Marcus looked thoughtful before admitting, "Not a lot, but I know it was important."

Gibbs watched mom and son intently. "Important enough to get those four men here this soon."

The mom had been quiet, clutching her son's hand, and she stayed silent, but looked a little uncomfortable. Perhaps she wasn't used to the added attention. Her son, looking pensive, responded to the statement made by Gibbs.

"Dad's always been well liked and respected." His arm went around his mother, his hand on her shoulder in a comforting way.

Gibbs was already believing that neither one knew much about the general's job when the son was compelled to add, "Dad either couldn't or wouldn't tell us anything about what he knew or what he did."

Gibbs nodded in understanding. "Where are your sisters and your brother?"

Marcus smiled sadly. "Denise is in Colorado. Lucy's in Kansas. They'll be here tomorrow."

Gibbs gazed toward the piano where on it and above it on the wall were family photos. General and Mrs. Wheeler with the four children when they were very small. Another one with them as young adults standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon. Photos of two couples with two children each, and a couple with one child. Marcus was in one with a woman and Gibbs glanced at his hand looking for a ring.

Marcus noticed Gibbs looking. "My wife is upstairs."

Gibbs looked at the photos again and realized he'd distracted Marcus before he finished. "And your brother?"

"Iraq." Mrs. Wheeler reached for her son's other hand, the one on her shoulder. "As soon as we're finished I'll drive to Alexandria and bring Claudette and Kath back here." Turning to his mother he said, "And we'll bring dinner."

A few minutes later Marcus saw them to the door. The SS agent departed at the same time leaving Gibbs wondering why he'd been there after the VIPs had left. It was just another question to add to the growing list that they would tackle in the morning.

tbc

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	4. Chapter 4

**THE NEXT MORNING** -

Tony, Tim and Ziva searched for information about General Wheeler, Elizabeth Wheeler, their children and the mysterious General O'Neill. On a good day they couldn't work quietly and this day was no exception. The night before they'd left the Wheeler home and returned to the Navy Yard and Gibbs had turned them loose, but it meant a late dinner and all their original plans postponed. Their irritability from the night before was carrying over to the morning.

While searching Tony quipped, "The wife was the last one to see him alive. Suspect."

Ziva agreed, but had another theory. "He did not feel well when he left the Pentagon. That means his work colleagues are all suspects."

"Suicide, murder, natural cause, all are possibilities. The son, Marcus, lives close. I'm going to look at him."

Ziva knew women could kill. "What about the daughters or daughters-in-law? Sexual abuse? Could be revenge?"

Tony wasn't buying it. "Nope, it's the wife or that O'Neill guy or both of them together."

Ducky and Jimmy were performing the autopsy so Gibbs sipped from his second cup of the morning while his brain mulled over what they had learned the night before. It wasn't much, but a couple of things stood out; the General's job and the family friend, O'Neill. They hadn't been able to find an office contact number for Wheeler or O'Neill, so Gibbs had gone to Vance who had gone to SecNav who had gone to SecAF. A while later a captain from O'Neill's office had left a message with Vance inviting Gibbs for a talk later that morning. In the mean time, Gibbs called a couple of people he knew who might know something. One didn't pan out and the Commandant had meetings all day so Gibbs couldn't talk to him about Wheeler. He decided he would call for an appointment after the meeting with O'Neill.

At 0920 they put all the information on the plasma and then spent the next 10 to 15 minutes going over all of it.

Ron and Elizabeth Wheeler. Married 36 years. Marine Corps lifer while she was stay at home mom and sold Avon. When the kids were all in school, worked in the Sears credit department and sold Avon. In addition to standard military life insurance, there were two additional life insurance policies totaling $750,000. They were original policies from when the children were very young. Beneficiary - wife.

Four children. Denise, nurse, married to Michael Rodgers, teacher. Two children, Aaron 8, Mary Lee 6. Live in Littleton, Colorado. Lucy, paralegal, married to George Reed, works at Cessna. Two children, Madison 7, David 6. Live in Wichita, Kansas. Andrew, Marine corps captain, married to Claudette, psychologist. One child, Kathleen age 2. Another child due in a month. Live in Alexandria, Virginia with wife's parents. Marcus, ATF special agent, married to Pamela, chef. Twins due in two months. Live in Washington, DC.

They knew General Wheeler's service record had been redacted, but they were able to confirm that he'd held command at all levels from Lt. Colonel to Major General. His commendations were a little vague to say the least, but it was obvious he'd had classified postings with classified missions. They were still trying to figure out who he reported to because every lead they got went right back to the Department of the Air Force. And that just wasn't right. Lieutenant General John J. O'Neill's service record had been redacted even more than Wheeler's and they hadn't yet been able to find out much of anything and found only one good photo.

Ducky was still working on the autopsy, but he'd sent blood and tissue samples to Abby. So far there wasn't anything suspicious at all. Vance had called for an update, but Gibbs didn't have anything to tell him yet.

Gibbs left Tony and Ziva to search for more information about Generals Wheeler and O'Neill and took Tim to the Pentagon meeting with him.

The nondescript conference room located next to restrooms and between two security check points was clean with comfortable chairs and the fresh coffee was surprisingly good. Who would have guessed zoomies could make 'Marine worthy' coffee? The walls were bare except for a very large poster of a galaxy - Gibbs guessed the Andromeda Galaxy, but wasn't going to say anything to McGee - and there was a placard by the door detailing emergency escape routes.

Gibbs and McGee investigated the available reading material on the short gray bookcase and were more than intrigued with the different choices. In addition to Stars and Stripes, there were current editions of the Las Vegas Sun Times, the Colorado Springs Gazzette, the San Francisco Chronicle and someone had printed out an online newspaper, The Antarctica Sun. There was also a current edition of National Geographic magazine.

They sat down and waited for about five minutes when two knocks on the door got their attention and it clicked open. A fresh-faced 1st Lieutenant breezed in carrying a good sized box, paper plates, napkins and forks and set the box down gently in front of Gibbs. "Compliments of General O'Neill, sir."

The heavenly aroma teased the two men and Gibbs pulled up the lid. What was inside looked as good as it smelled and was still warm.

Tim's mouth was watering. "Sure smells good, boss."

Gibbs cocked his head a little, peering at the contents. "Look like pecan sticky buns, McGee."

"That's exactly what they are," a friendly voice announced from the conference room door. "Go ahead, dish 'em out. Taylor?"

"Coffee. Yes, sir."

O'Neill stepped to the chair at the end of the table. "140 calories, 8 grams of fat, 14 grams of sugar. It's the only reason I get to have one."

Gibbs was a little bit amused and started to stand up, but O'Neill waved him to stay seated. "Special Agent Gibbs, I'm Jack O'Neill." Indicating the other men he said, "Special Agent McGee, Captain Eric Taylor."

Gibbs took notice of being addressed by title and name and that the general went by Jack instead of John and didn't refer to himself as general. O'Neill was even more imposing in person than he appeared in the one photo they had found. He was tall with silver hair and looked pretty fit for a desk jockey. He had a small healed scar through his left eyebrow and one of his knees popped loudly when he sat down. After a couple of pleasantries Gibbs put four buns on four plates, the captain brought coffee to the table for himself and O'Neill, McGee declined a top off, and then the men were ready to snack and talk.

With his ride to Colorado Springs expected in 30 minutes, O'Neill got right to the point. "I have 20 minutes. Go."

"We need to talk to you. Not the captain."

"He's not here to answer questions."

The general was nice enough, but guarded. Gibbs didn't care if the younger man stayed.

"You and General Wheeler were friends."

A flash of loss crossed O'Neill's face, but disappeared quickly before he answered. "Close friends."

"And you're friends with Mrs. Wheeler and the children?"

O'Neill replied without any hesitation. "We're close. I'm MJ's Godfather." Perhaps unsure if they knew who MJ was, he explained. "Youngest son, Marcus."

Gibbs wasn't ready to ask about a more personal relationship between O'Neill and the wife yet so he went to another item on the list for interviews and interrogations. "Are you aware of any medical problems General Wheeler might have had?"

O'Neill looked thoughtful. "A little arthritis in his knees and back. He had a couple small precancerous spots removed a few years ago."

McGee and Taylor had scarfed down their sticky buns and put more on their plates while Gibbs considered O'Neill's response. He was a little surprised that the man was so forthcoming. Changing direction he asked, "I understand you saved General Wheeler's life in Kuwait."

Hesitation. "I uh, I pulled him out of a bad situation." There was definitely much more to it than that.

Gibbs took a couple of sips from his coffee cup. "His family insists he only came home alive because of you."

O'Neill shrugged. "Elizabeth was grateful." His voice softened considerably. "She and the kids got him back." He took a small bite, chewed and swallowed.

Gibbs noticed he said Elizabeth; not Beth, Liz, Liza or some other shortened version or nickname. "Did you see or speak to General Wheeler yesterday?"

O'Neill got a puzzled look on his face, but it was gone quickly and he answered, "Yes and yes."

Gibbs didn't know what to think about the look. "Did he seem sick or in pain?"

O'Neill sipped his coffee and set the cup down. "I saw him for a few minutes early in the morning and he seemed... tired."

Health problem? Poison? "Not ill?"

O'Neill shook his head. "No. I heard later that he'd gone home before noon."

Gibbs noticed that the man was clearly uncomfortable, but he didn't seem to be hiding anything.

"I was in a meeting and... then." O'Neill's tone expressed regret and then sadness. "I heard he collapsed."

No autopsy results yet so the death could be from something besides murder or health problems. It wouldn't hurt to ask. Gibbs did. "Was he having any problems? Was he upset about anything?"

O'Neill's facial expression said no so Gibbs moved on quickly. "Do you know of anyone who would want to hurt General Wheeler?"

It was like the planet stopped rotating. No sounds from the hallway. No movement or noise from the forced air heating system. No chewing or sipping sounds. No evidence anyone was breathing. Just stillness and silence. At least it hadn't gotten dark too. A look... or something passed between O'Neill and Taylor before the General quietly stated, "No."

Okay. Maybe not an out-and-out lie, but definitely holding something back. Gibbs looked at McGee, who until the last question had enjoyed his snack, coffee and time away from the Navy Yard. Neither man gave anything away, but both knew it was time to talk some more about the wife and a son who got named after another man.

"Elizabeth Wheeler is a nice looking woman," Gibbs stated innocently, gauging the man's reaction. When there was no reaction, he threw out, "Just how grateful was she that you saved her husband's life?"

O'Neill's shoulders tensed briefly and he closed his right hand into a controlled fist.

"Marcus was born a month after Ron got home from Kuwait." There went the theory that O'Neill could be the kid's father. "When S..my wife and I divorced, they made sure I was still included for birthdays and sometimes Sunday dinner."

He said they, not she. The man's words touched Gibbs as he remembered his own dark times after Shannon and Kelly died. Still, he had a job to do. "So, you got divorced and she's still grateful and you're saying that you never...?"

O'Neill looked at his hands and Gibbs saw him rein in his anger. This wasn't guilt, shame or embarrassment; it was rage. O'Neill's eyes were hard, but not expressionless and Gibbs finally saw it. The General was hiding a deep, enduring pain.

Tim felt like he was back in Stillwater, when in his humble opinion, Gibbs was lobbing softballs. The General was hiding something and they were going to find out what it was. Tim jumped in with both feet and asked, "Were you ever with Mrs. Wheeler when her husband wasn't around?"

Icy blue laser beam eyes tracked from O'Neill to McGee. Captain Taylor's napkin was suddenly just a small ball of paper in his tight fist. O'Neill's brown eyes darkened until they were almost black. He suddenly looked like a loaded spring and turned in his chair to face McGee.

O'Neill's gaze was fierce, almost predatory when he admitted, "Yes, I've been to the house when Ron wasn't home."

Gibbs would talk to McGee later about what he had done. For now he would let him run with scissors. With O'Neill turned the way he was, Gibbs looked at his ribbon rack and was reminded that he hadn't always flown a desk. His longevity ribbon with one silver and three bronze oak leaf clusters translated to at least 36 years of service and the badges were interesting. Parachutist and space? Hmm.

Tim hadn't expected the man to admit anything. What was he admitting? He looked at Gibbs, who gave nothing away. The question hadn't been asked the way Gibbs would have done it, but oh well. O'Neill had definitely reacted to the suggestion of an affair with the widow.

Before McGee could ask a follow-up question, O'Neill said, "I'm not sure what you want to know." Yeah right. "Or why you want to know it." Bull.

Gibbs held back a small smile.

Trying and failing to not act miffed, O'Neill made a request. "Just ask me direct questions and I'll answer what I can."

Tim looked at Gibbs. Gibbs looked at Tim.

"Okay." Tim seemed a little unsure, but Gibbs indicated he should continue.

"General O'Neill, yesterday you were seen hugging Mrs. Wheeler."

O'Neill didn't react or say anything. Tim waited. And waited.

Finally O'Neill quipped, "Do you have a question for me, Agent McGee?"

Tim was flustered, but determined and thankful that Tony and Ziva weren't there. Why was he letting the General get to him this way? He mentally smacked himself and asked the direct question. "What is your relationship with Mrs. Wheeler?"

tbc

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Thanks for the reviews and follows. I appreciate everyone who is giving this story a chance.


	5. Chapter 5

_Tim was flustered, but determined and thankful that Tony and Ziva weren't there. Why was he letting the General get to him this way? He mentally smacked himself and asked the direct question. "What is your relationship with Mrs. Wheeler?"  
_

O'Neill flashed a half smirk at McGee before replying, "We've been close friends since 1991."

"You admit being at their house without her husband. When were you there?."

O'Neill shook his head a little, as if he couldn't believe the questions the NCIS punk was asking, but he vowed to stay in control. "When Ron was deployed and we lived close enough. Their kids were small... my son was small. My wife... my ex-wife and I would go over for dinner every once in a while." He looked thoughtful before adding, "We went to the same church."

McGee realized O'Neill hadn't answered the way he thought he would. "That was years ago, General. What about something more recent?"

O'Neill's eyes went to the galaxy poster for just a second before he looked at McGee. "A month ago Ron was out-of-town. I was at their house for dinner."

Tim smiled smugly and asked in a definitely suggestive way, "You were there alone with Mrs. Wheeler?"

O'Neill's eyes displayed his hidden outrage, but his voice and tone were normal. "Yes, for about 15 minutes until the kids," and he ticked them off on his fingers as he named them, "Marcus, Pam, Claudette and little Kathleen got there." When no sound came from Tim's mouth, O'Neill added, "I think we had meatloaf and mashed."

Gibbs wasn't sensing any duplicity and he knew Tim had lost control of the interview, if he'd ever had it.

And Tim must have channeled Tony because he wasn't buying any of it and blurted out, "The hug yesterday was described as gentle, warm and loving."

O'Neill didn't wait for a question. Leaning forward and glaring right at Tim, he ground out, "Yes, Special Agent McGee. My friend's husband, who was also _my_ friend, died yesterday. Of course I _hugged_ Elizabeth.. in a gentle, warm and loving way... and I will be hugging her again."

McGee kept his mouth closed and switching his flinty gaze to Gibbs, O'Neill ordered, "Your turn."

Gibbs liked General O'Neill. His gut wasn't indicating anything more than friendship between O'Neill and Mrs. Wheeler so he went to Wheeler's career.

"General Wheeler's service record is heavily redacted. Do you know why?"

"Yes."

With mild surprise Gibbs asked, "Can you tell us why?"

"No."

Gibbs was understanding more and more why the SecNav was so interested.

"Why is yours?"

O'Neill didn't answer. He just waited for the next question.

Gibbs knew he wasn't going to get much. "Do you know why General Wheeler, a marine, was working closely with the Air Force?"

O'Neill didn't respond. Again.

Gibbs glanced at his watch. Still lots left of the 20 minutes. "Besides you, was he good friends with anyone else?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell us who?"

The vertical crease in O'Neill's forehead got more pronounced. "Yes."

Gibbs admired the way O'Neill was staying calm and controlled.

"Will you give us the names of people that you know were friends of General Wheeler?"

O'Neill was rigid, his posture and eyes not giving anything away. "I'll get you a list."

Gibbs considered the man's evasion and wondered if he'd ever see that list of names.

"Do you know who your friend's CO was?"

O'Neill seemed to be thinking, weighing his response. Finally he admitted, "Yes."

"Will you tell us the name?"

Not a word.

Gibbs wasn't taking O'Neill's silence and short answers personally and McGee.. well, McGee just looked a little bit confused.

"Do you know anything about General Wheeler's assignment?"

O'Neill didn't answer. Gibbs took it as a yes.

Gibbs knew this whole thing had to be need-to-know. O'Neill just wasn't confirming it. Probably top-secret too. SecNav already knew it and that was why he'd used General's Wheeler's death as an excuse to get Vance and then the team to investigate. O'Neill wouldn't give up anything about Wheeler, but maybe...

"What is your assignment?"

Not a single tell. Nothing. O'Neill was impressive.

"Who is _your_ CO?"

Gibbs saw it in his eyes and knew before it actually happened.

General Jack O'Neill stood up smoothly and the captain jumped up. "Special Agent Gibbs, Special Agent McGee, it's been a pleasure."

Gibbs almost cracked up laughing. If anyone had been looking they would have seen the mirth in his eyes.

If O'Neill saw, he didn't react. "Call for another... short.. appointment if you have additional questions. Captain Taylor will get you the number." Then turning a critical eye to his aide, he said, "I'll be... you-know-where until 1230.

The eager captain grinned and acknowledged the orders with a crisp, "Yes, sir," as General O'Neill went out the door.

Gibbs looked at the young officer and smiled smugly. He shot a look at McGee, who picked it up, and then Gibbs leaned back, sipped his coffee and watched while McGee engaged the officer in small talk.

"General O'Neill is an intimidating guy."

The captain smiled. "Yes, sir." Clearly there was some hero-worship going on.

"What do you do here at the Pentagon?"

A small frown formed over his eyes. "Lots of things."

Gibbs smirked. Kid was cagey, just like O'Neill.

McGee didn't know as much about the military as Gibbs, but he knew enough. "How long have you been an aide?"

Taylor replied proudly. "Seven months."

McGee had learned a lot from Gibbs during interviews/interrogations and abruptly changed the focus. "Did you know General Wheeler?"

"Yes, I did." Sadness replaced the smile. "I'll get you the phone number General O'Neill wanted you to have. Please wait here, sirs."

Gibbs had seen green captains; he'd eaten a few for breakfast over the years. It was time to intimidate one. Standing up he casually suggested, "We need to get going anyway. We'll just come to your office with you and you can get us the card.. or whatever."

The captain's demeanor changed from naïve to leery in just under a millisecond. He seemed to stand a little taller when he stated, "No, Special Agent Gibbs. You and Special Agent McGee will stay here in the conference room or you can stand right outside this door and wait for me to come back. Your choice."

Polite and respectful, but certainly not green. A captain. Figure 26 years old. Out of college or the Academy at 22. Two years to make 1st Lieutenant. Two years to make captain. The kid didn't look a day over 22, 23 tops, but you really couldn't tell. Everybody ages differently.

With a raised eyebrow, Gibbs addressed his teammate. "We'll wait outside, won't we McGee?"

McGee nodded and rose from the comfy chair, hoping their own conference room would get new chairs in the future. Taylor opened the door and stepped back, letting the agents exit first. The hallway looked empty except for the men at the security check points, but then they saw the two airmen standing against the wall on each side of the conference room door. As soon as the captain stepped into the hallway, the two men straightened. Funny, they hadn't been there when they'd been shown to the room.

"I'll be right back," he stated to anyone within hearing distance and walked away. With a small smile, Gibbs started after him until he heard "SIR," and one of the 'guards' was right next to him. The captain didn't even flinch, let alone turn around.

McGee stepped toward Gibbs, the other airman right with him. "Boss?"

Gibbs quirked an eyebrow at him and then pulled his credentials and faced the men. "Federal agents. We're going with Captain Taylor."

"No, Special Agent Gibbs. You are to remain here or in the conference room until Captain Taylor returns."

"You have no authority over us."

McGee was wondering what Gibbs was up to. He was curious about the Air Force offices too, but knew they couldn't just go wandering around.

"You're right, sir. _We_ don't." Was that a smirky smile?

Gibbs was feeling cocky. "Why shouldn't we go walking around here anywhere we want?"

Confidence and pride oozed from the two men. "Because Agent Gibbs, General O'Neill told us to remind you that you're in _his_ house."

Gibbs almost laughed out loud. A comeback had just moved from his brain to his mouth when he saw Taylor walking toward them. When he got close he handed a miniature index card to Gibbs and said, "The phone number, sir." Then he addressed one of the airmen. "Go with Special Agents Gibbs and McGee past the second checkpoint."

"Yes, sir," the man replied crisply before stepping into the conference room. When he came out a second later, he handed the box of pecan sticky buns to McGee. "Compliments of General O'Neill, sir."

With a look of surprise on McGee's face and a small nod of acceptance from Gibbs, the airman started down the short corridor with them. On a whim, Gibbs turned back slightly and saw the Captain with a small trash bag and the other airman carrying the almost empty coffee pot. The men had cleaned up the conference room quickly and were taking the trash and dishes away.

O'Neill's people hadn't been intimidated at all. They stood their ground yet remained polite and respectful. They also weren't above menial janitorial tasks and Gibbs had to admit that so far, O'Neill and his people were impressive. Now he just had to find out more about O'Neill, about Wheeler, about their assignments, and then figure out what to tell Vance. He and McGee were in the car heading back to the Navy Yard when he realized they had forgotten to ask the captain about you-know-where.

tbc

* * *

Thanks very much for reading. Please review.


	6. Chapter 6

Loads of thanks to my reviewers and followers. I appreciate all of you very much.

* * *

A while later in Autopsy -

Ducky lifted his head as the sliding glass door slid open.

"Ah, Jethro. You're just in time."

Approaching the metal autopsy table, Gibbs asked, "What do ya got, Duck?"

The ME gave his friend a small smile. "Mr. Palmer and I are close to finishing."

Jimmy smiled, but didn't say anything as he stood across from his boss.

"We need to wait for the toxicology screen and other tests, but we're fairly certain the general died from natural causes."

Gibbs was okay with that. He still needed to hear what Tony and Ziva had turned up, but the interviews with the wife and O'Neill hadn't raised any flags. At least not for him. McGee was a different story. Oh sure, it was easy to jump to infidelity or life insurance as a motive, but his gut told him it wasn't the case... in this case. Gibbs was on the side of no foul play, but had loads of questions about Wheeler and O'Neill and their assignments.

"Which natural cause killed him?"

"It appears he suffered from an aortic aneurysm." He knew Gibbs knew what it was so he continued. "There was initially a very small partial tear, which may have had no symptoms at all."

Ducky walked over to the light box where x-rays were displayed.

Gibbs followed him. "Witnesses said he was tired, but not in pain."

"Yes, Jethro, that could be consistent with a small, but continuous loss of blood. These types of things often result in shortness of breath which can masquerade as fatigue. If he didn't have pain, he probably thought he was coming down with something or perhaps didn't sleep well the night before and was just extremely tired."

Gibbs considered what his friend was telling him. "Can poisons or drugs cause aneurysms?"

Ducky looked thoughtful for a moment, turning his back and returning to the body. "Most go undiagnosed until they rupture. Certain medications can raise the blood pressure... only the blood tests can tell us if there are medications present that we don't know about from the man's history."

Remembering O"Neill talking about Wheeler, Gibbs asked, "Did he have a lot of health problems? Take a lot of medications?"

Jimmy jumped in. "No prescription drugs at all. Just daily low-dose aspirin and vitamins."

"Mr. Palmer is correct. Jethro. This man suffered from arthritis in his knees, back and left shoulder, but did not take medication for it on a regular schedule. He did have some small growths removed. You can see here..."

To Gibbs it sounded like O'Neill's information was correct and he knew Ducky would go on and on so he said, "Okay, Ducky. I guess we keep plugging along until you can say for certain what killed him."

Gibbs was already moving out the door and didn't hear the ME's last comment. "Patience, Jethro. It is a virtue."

Many seconds passed before Jimmy said, "Dr. Mallard?"

"What is it, Mr. Palmer?"

"Uh, Agent Gibbs didn't wait around for the rest of the preliminary report."

Duck chuckled. "No, he did not."

"Shouldn't y..we have told him about the incomplete record and the old wounds... or injuries... or whatever they are?"

"Ah yes." Ducky turned to face Jimmy. "Don't worry, we will."

Jimmy looked uncertain. "When?"

With certainty. "When he comes back, which will be in about two hours."

NCIS~SG~NCJS

Gibbs went to Abby's lab next where she berated him for being there. She was happy to get a Caf-Pow though. It was too soon for any blood test results and she didn't have any other evidence to go through so he made his way back to the squad room.

Ziva and Tony were in front of Tim's desk and he held back a minute to hear what they were talking about.

"We want another one, McGee."

"No." McGee pulled the box back against his chest.

"Hand the box over, NOW." Ziva wasn't one to take no for answer.

McGee kept hold of the box and propped it on his lap. "There's only one left and it's mine."

"Why should you get it, McStingy?"

McGee crowed, "Because they handed the box to me."

"Oh, come on, what does that have to do with anything?"

"Tony, I have shared with you, Ziva, Abby, Ducky and Jimmy."

Ziva perked up. "What about Gibbs?"

Tim admitted, "Gibbs had one at the Pentagon."

Tony wasn't buying Tim's reasoning and almost played the senior field agent card. Instead of that he said, "We should flip for it."

"Or that rock, paper, scissors thing," Ziva suggested.

"Everybody got some. The last one, and it's the smallest one, is mine. Now go away." Tim sounded like he expected that to be the end of it.

Gibbs was ready to round the corner and claim the darn sticky bun for himself when his phone rang. "Yeah, Gibbs."

NCIS~SG~NCIS

Gibbs stood in front of the desk, waiting for Director Vance to finish his phone call. He didn't know why he was there; there was nothing to report. Oh he knew a few things, but did he want to tell Vance?

"You weren't at the Pentagon for very long."

Gibbs couldn't help a small shrug with a minute shake of his head.

"What did you find out about General Wheeler?"

"Not much... yet."

Vance eyed the supervisory agent critically. "I guess I can give you a little more time. It's been less than a day since he died."

Gibbs nodded once.

Vance reached for a fresh toothpick. "Dr. Mallard have a cause of death yet?"

"Preliminary is natural causes... aneurysm." He glanced out the window behind Vance.

"SecNav is pushing me. I'm pushing you. Find something about Wheeler and his Pentagon job."

NCIS~SG~NCIS

Gibbs stood at the plasma with Ziva and Tony, who had been told about O'Neill's interview. McGee was still at his desk, deeply engrossed in finding something, which is what Gibbs wanted him to be doing.

"Checked Wheeler's financials, boss." Tony looked proud.

Ziva added what she thought was obvious. "And those of his children and their spouses."

Gibbs looked at the former Mossad agent like she was nuts. They would have a hard time justifying Wheeler's financials, but the adult kids? Sheesh.

Tony wasn't about to not report what he'd found out. "Didn't find anything. boss. Dad, Mom, four kids and spouses all have regular income and normal expenses. " He clicked the remote. "Kids all go to public school in Kansas and Colorado. No evidence of hidden income anywhere."

Ziva added, "I looked at tax returns and found out that they all give very generously to charity."

Gibbs was speechless for all of two seconds. "Wheeler's service record?"

Tony and Ziva were silent until his glare got to them and they blurted at the same time. "McGee's working on it."

"So far no mistresses," Tony winked at Ziva, "no skeletons, no reasons for General Wheeler to be dead. Unless someone wanted him that way."

Ziva finished his sentence. "Like the wife or her lover."

Gibbs was not going there. "O'Neill's history and service record?"

"Not much, boss."

Gibbs remembered O'Neill's mention of a son just as Ziva took her turn.

"He owns a cabin near Silver Creek, Minnesota and a bungalow in Malibu, California."

DiNozzo sighed. "Malibu." Big smile. "Bikinis and beaches. How do you s'pose he affords that?"

Gibbs ignored DiNozzo. "He's stationed at the Pentagon." Blank looks from Tony and Ziva. "He doesn't commute from Minnesota or California. Find out where he lives around here." The two agents looked ready to bolt toward their desks. "And don't look at O'Neill's financials... until I tell you."

Jumping up from his chair, Tim announced, "I have something, boss."

Sarcastic retort from Tony. "Of course you do, McPentagon."

tbc

* * *

Thanks very much for reading. Please review.

***Pecan sticky bun allocation. O'Neill-1, Taylor-2, Gibbs-1, Tim-3, Abby-2, Ducky-1, Jimmy-2, Ziva-2, Tony-2.


	7. Chapter 7

_Jumping up from his chair, Tim announced, "I have something, boss.  
Sarcastic retort from Tony. "Of course you do, McPentagon."_

Tim took the remote from DiNozzo's hand. "In January 2003, then Colonel John J. O'Neill was arrested for shooting US Senator Robert Kinsey." A picture of Kinsey popped up on the plasma. "O'Neill was cleared of any and all wrong doing."

"Kinsey. From US Senator to VP." Tony was ready with a movie reference, but never got a chance to use it.

Tim continued. "Kinsey was Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee before the assassination attempt. He claimed a sting had all been planned ahead of time, except for actually getting shot, and O'Neill was arrested, but knew about it all from the start."

Gibbs was getting bored and Tim seemed to pick up on it.

"I'm still looking for the video of the press conference." He looked at Gibbs' face. "Okay, I don't really need to find the ten-year-old recording."

Tony wasn't interested, but he was curious. "Whatever happened to Kinsey after he resigned?"

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs settled his gaze on McGee. "Wheeler? O'Neill?"

"No connection between Kinsey and Wheeler, that I can find." If looks could kill, McGee knew he should be dead. He struggled for a few seconds to come up with something else. "Uh, neither man is listed on Senior Air Force or Marine Corps. leadership rosters."

Wheeler might not be, but... the AF has what, 35 or 40 Lieutenant Generals? "John J. O'Neill has to be on a short list somewhere."

"I'll keep looking, boss." This time McGee was ready with more information. "I did find a geographical connection. General Wheeler was in Colorado at the same time as General O'Neill. 2000 to 2002."

Not many marines get stationed in the Rocky Mountain state. "Where in Colorado?"

McGee looked at Tony. "Pikes Peak." He looked at Ziva. "US Olympic Training Center." Then he looked at Gibbs. "Seven Falls." The glare he got from his team leader reminded him that it was not a quiz show. "Sorry, boss. Colorado Springs."

Gibbs was wondering when Tim had started behaving more like DiNozzo and as for the case, he was still getting seven when he added two plus two. This case, if it was a case, was infuriating. "ONeill saved Wheeler's life in Kuwait 22, 23 years ago. Then an Air Force officer and a Marine officer end up together nine years later in Colorado and again at the Pentagon ten years after that?"

McGee was pleased with himself. "That's what it looks like."

Gibbs knew they were still missing a boatload of information. He wanted confirmation from McGee. "O'Neill and Wheeler both_ lived_ in Colorado Springs?"

Tim looked panicked for a few seconds as his brain processed the question. "Uh, no... I don't know... I don't know yet." He quickly added, "General Wheeler owned a house in Colorado Springs. Property records show he and his wife still own it. I don't know where General O'Neill lived, but I found an old on-line account for video rentals. The store is in Colorado Springs. I also found a divorce decree in Grand County and his ex-wife lives in Winter Park. Property record says she still owns the home."

Tony couldn't help it. "How come you still own your house, boss? Three divorces and..."

Ziva gasped. It wasn't loud or terribly obvious, but Gibbs was certain that everyone heard it. He clenched his jaw, wondering when DiNozzo was going to let his marriages go. Ignoring the comment and the others for the moment, Gibbs thought about the Air Force connection to Wheeler. O'Neill was Air Force and a good friend, but they had also apparently served together, or at the least they were in the same town at the same time. Coincidence? No way. This was exactly what SecNav wanted to know about. Wheeler more than likely died from natural causes so very soon they would have no reason to look into anything. It was time to put some eyes and some ears on the ground... and elsewhere.

Tim interrupted Gibbs' train of thought. "I'm trying to confirm that O'Neill was in Colorado, but the server for records of motor vehicles and licenses is really secure, boss." He waited only a moment before adding, "And I'm still trying to scope out more info about the redacted service records."

"Do you have a local address for O'Neill yet?"

Ziva and Tony were mute, but Tim quietly admitted, "Not yet, boss."

Ignoring his agents for the moment, Gibbs walked back to his desk. Laying on it was a paper with a fax cover sheet. It was addressed to him from O'Neill. Would wonders never cease? "DiNozzo, David, get to the Pentagon. Blend in and talk to people." He handed the paper to Tony. "Find out anything you can about Wheeler, O'Neill... and Colorado Springs." His steely blue eyes met Tony's and then Ziva's. "Be discreet."

"What about me, boss?"

"You, McGee... hey, what are you two still doing here?" When Tony and Ziva had grabbed their things and scurried out, Gibbs put his hand on Tim's shoulder and guided him back to his desk. After the younger man was seated comfortably, he leaned in. "Use your skills and get me Wheeler's and O'Neill's service records. The unredacted versions."

Tim gulped. "I've been trying, boss, I swear."

"Try harder. And get their L-E-O's, get their overseas orders." Looking seriously at McGee, Gibbs told him, "Get their grocery lists, find out if they have pets and what they ate for breakfast yesterday."

McGee blinked and then looked dumbfounded. "Boss?"

Gibbs' voice had gone from soft to an almost whisper. "Look for anything and everything about special Air Force programs and commands. Find something. Find anything at all, McGee. It's important."

McGee leaned toward Gibbs and hissed, "You want me to hack the Air Force?"

The corner of Gibbs' mouth turned up a little. "Well, yeah Tim. Unless you have another way of getting the information we want."

"But, it's the Air Force, boss," he whispered. "Which is in the Pentagon." Tim had already dodged several bullets, aka disciplinary action and/or dismissal and/or prosecution in his quests to get information for cases, for Gibbs, for Vance, for Abby, for himself.

"I get it, McGee. Consider it a... fall back." Blue eyes met hazel ones and Gibbs lowered his voice a little more. "Not all information is located on Pentagon computers. Just be careful." He rapped his knuckles against McGee's desk before heading to the elevator. It was time to stretch his legs for a bit and get a sandwich and fresh coffee before going to see what Ducky had.

A while later at the Pentagon -

Knock knock. "Come."

O'Neill lifted his eyes from the folder he was reading. "Yeah, Ramos. What is it?"

Major Mario Ramos took three steps into the office and stood tall. The General was in the middle of a meeting, but what he had to tell him was important and urgent. "I just came from the food court, sir."

O'Neill managed to look both interested and disinterested at the same time, but Ramos didn't let it stop him. He was familiar with the man's quirkiness and hoped he'd get to work with him for a very long time. "There's a civilian there asking questions about you and General Wheeler."

The General's surprised glance went from Ramos to the Lieutenant Colonel sitting at the table across from him. "He ask you anything?"

"No, sir. I never saw him. Hahn from Logistics walked back with me and told me."

O'Neill's gut was twisting. "Recall everyone."

"Right away, sir," the amiable major replied and quickly left.

Lieutenant Colonel Paul Davis thought he knew what O'Neill was thinking, but asked anyway. "NCIS?"

"Yeah," O'Neill replied tiredly and grabbed the back of his neck. "I'm pretty sure it's one of Gibbs' people." A moment later he reached for the phone.

At the Navy Yard -

McGee chewed in frustration. He wasn't having a whole lot of luck unravelling the mysterious careers of Generals Wheeler or O'Neill. Oh he had discovered some things, but he knew there was much more to find and Gibbs wanted him to find it. The sandwich, chips, apple and drink proved it. Engrossed in doing Gibbs' bidding, hopefully without hacking, McGee had forgotten about lunch. That was until his stomach growled at the same time a bag and cup appeared at the side of his keyboard.

After delivering McGee's lunch, dropping off his coat and a quick trip to the restroom, Gibbs strolled into autopsy like he owned the place. "Hey Duck."

The older gentleman was seated at his desk, working on paperwork. "Welcome back, Jethro." He glanced at Jimmy, who had a hard time suppressing a small grin, and turned to address the team leader. "Have you come back for cause of death?"

Gibbs' face made it seem like a ridiculous question, but he nodded once and kind of grunted.

"Yes, well, the aneurysm killed him. As to what caused it, my finding is natural causes unless Abby Sciuto's test results reveal something else."

Jimmy looked like he was going to jump out of his skin and Gibbs noticed.

"Something bothering you, Palmer?"

"Uh, no, Agent Gibbs." He shook his head lightly.

"Come now, Mr. Palmer, you and I both know that's not true and we can be certain that Gibbs knows it's not true also." He smiled enigmatically and got up from his chair. "Shall we tell him what we discovered that we did not get a chance to disclose this morning?"

Jimmy smiled. Gibbs looked like he wanted to spit.

Meanwhile back at the Pentagon -

Staff Sergeant Heather Miller enjoyed her mandarin chicken from the Panda Express until the overconfident, flirty guy sat down at her table without an invitation. It was lunchtime and the food court was crowded, but she'd hoped to have someone she knew join her. Tony, as he had introduced himself, was forty-ish with a $100 haircut and nice smile She admitted he was good-looking in his perfect suit with skinny tie and was that a Hugo Boss overcoat?

Small talk ended quickly when she didn't take part and soon it was her eating and him smiling a lot and asking questions. Miller was used to people being curious about the high security corridor where she worked, but everyone, at least until now, accepted her refusal to talk about it. So when her cell phone buzzed alerting her to a text message, she gladly reached for the device to find out what someone wanted. Nice smile or not, the snoopy guy was annoying.

Colonel Daniel Conner wiped his mouth with the paper napkin just as a beautiful woman sat down at his table. From her accent she was Israeli and looked at him appraisingly, almost hungrily if he was day dreaming. Chit-chat turned amusing as she tried to talk about March madness and he knew she was attempting to play him. Ziva, as she said to call her, portrayed innocent female, but he knew she was a deadly jaguar lurking in the high grass.

He'd been there with two lunch companions and they'd seen her studying the crowd. Her dark alluring eyes seemed to be looking for someone and they went back to eating and talking. As soon as they left to go back to work, Ziva had come to Conner's table and sat down. He only stayed the extra minutes because she was gorgeous and he was flattered, but when the text came he was actually relieved.

In Autopsy at the Navy Yard -

"Examination of General Wheeler's body revealed interesting, yet mysterious injuries which were not disclosed or..."

"Mysterious?" Gibbs walked with the ME over to the table where Jimmy had placed the body after removing it from the refrigerated drawer.

Ducky chuckled lightly. "Burn scars like I've never seen."

Jimmy uncovered the body enough to show Gibbs the outside hip, where a patch of rough skin looked like a burn scar. Ducky's gloved hand brushed across it.

"The healed tissue is not only oddly shaped, it is quite thick."

Jimmy wanted to be helpful so he added, "We haven't taken a tissue sample from it because it wasn't related to his cause of death."

Gibbs nodded, not saying he approved or disapproved of that decision. He left those decisions to Ducky. The whole darn case was strange and now he was seeing mysterious old wounds on their dead General.

"He has another one on his back. Judging from the healing, I'd say it's 10 to 12 years old."

Gibbs thought for a second. Wheeler was in Colorado then. Ducky and Jimmy carefully turned the body over. The roundish scar was high on his back, left of center and just under the shoulder-blade.

"This scar tissue is also very thick. The original burn had to be severe."

Gibbs shook his head. "You're telling me these wounds are not listed in his medical records."

"That's exactly what I'm telling you. The record is incomplete."

Redacted service records and now a redacted medical file.

Ducky and Jimmy repositioned the body and then moved it to a rolling table so it could be returned to the cold drawer.

"I attempted to contact the attending physician who performed his annual physical in 2002 to ask about the wounds, but alas, she is deceased."

tbc

* * *

Thank you for reading. A bit of jumping around from place to place. Sorry 'bout that.


	8. Chapter 8

_"I attempted to contact the attending physician who performed his annual physical in 2002 to ask about the wounds, but alas, she is deceased."_

Jimmy thought Gibbs looked interested and Dr. Mallard wasn't offering any of the information, so he took it upon himself to tell the team leader what he knew. "Dr. Janet Fraiser was a major in the United States Air Force... Medical Corps. She is survived by a daughter."

Ducky glanced at Palmer before taking over. "Adopted daughter," he corrected before continuing. "Dr. Fraiser earned two bachelor degrees. She was Magna Cum Laude in chemistry and biology and then earned her medical degree at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio." The way he said the name of the school made it clear that he was not impressed, but he almost made up for it by saying, "She was considered an expert in rare and exotic diseases and qualified in Internal Medicine, specializing in infectious disease and critical care, in Aerospace Medicine and in Emergency Medicine."

Many seconds passed as Gibbs digested the information and Ducky let him. Palmer stayed quiet until he couldn't stand the silence anymore. "She served as chief of the Aeromedical Services at Nellis Air Force Base until she left in 1997."

Gibbs knew without thinking about it that Fraiser's service record had been redacted. Just like Wheeler's. Just like O'Neill's.

When neither man yelled at him, Jimmy plowed ahead in explanation by admitting, "We couldn't access her medical records. It is the Air Force and DOD has to okay it and sometimes we can get them, but this time we couldn't."

"Yes," Ducky agreed then added, "But one of her former classmates who is now at Bethesda revealed that she talked about purchasing a home in..."

Gibbs jumped in. "Colorado Springs."

Ducky and Jimmy both looked more than just surprised. Obviously Gibbs knew more than he was telling.

"Yes. Colorado Springs. She was doing some work at the Air Force Academy Hospital."

"Did her colleague know anything about her death?"

"No, I'm afraid not." Ducky sighed.

Once again Jimmy interjected his knowledge. "Doctor, while you were... uh... out for a few minutes, I searched the internet for the burial record of Dr. Fraiser."

Ducky smiled. "Very good, Mr Palmer. What did you find?"

The two men watched the computer screen as Jimmy brought up the search results which had a link. "She's buried in Denver at Fort Logan National Cemetery." When he clicked on the link a picture of a headstone popped up.

Gibbs looked at the photo for a long while, noticing the way the photographer had used angle and sunlight to accentuate the high altitude blue sky and the lush grass which had been neatly trimmed around the headstone. Then he looked at the headstone.

JANET FRAISER  
MAJ MC  
US AIR FORCE  
NOV 9, 1964  
FEB 20, 2004  
BRONZE STAR  
PURPLE HEART  
LOVING MOTHER  
BELOVED FRIEND  
SHE SAVED MANY

The Latin cross at the top indicated she identified as Christian and the inscription did not specify a conflict, but many didn't even when the person died in combat. Many headstones had the MC for medical corps, but few had both MC and rank. Clearly the person who filled out the form for the headstone was proud of Dr. Fraiser's rank and the epitaph was telling, especially the last line, and he wondered about it briefly until his brain concentrated on the medals. Dr. Fraiser was as much an enigma as Wheeler and O'Neill.

Ducky noticed his friend's keen interest. "Jethro, is there something untoward about the lives and deaths of General Wheeler and Dr. Fraiser?"

Gibbs pursed his lips tightly and headed for the door. Before it slid closed behind him he called out, "I'll let you know, Duck."

And back at the Pentagon -

The food court was still fairly busy when Ziva made her way over to where Tony was sitting. "The man I was speaking to had to leave suddenly. I attempted to speak to two others, but they did not seem to know anything about either general. One of them did not know he had passed away."

Tony smiled thinly and beckoned her to sit down with him. "One of my majors got a text message and left too. I wasn't getting anywhere with her anyway, but it's not a coincidence that both of them left at the same time."

Ziva looked around before addressing her partner. "Did you find out anything Gibbs wanted to know?"

"No." He sat back comfortably, putting his right foot across his left knee. "Three of 'em shot me down immediately."

Ziva smiled playfully. "I found out that the women here think O'Neill is handsome."

Tony rolled his eyes. "That helps a lot." A cute young woman walked by their table and DiNozzo wasn't shy about checking her out.

Ziva could play too. "I have been trying to decide if I prefer airmen or sailors."

Remembering Damon Werth, Tony quipped, "I thought you liked ex-marines."

"I do like... some marines." Ziva thought about Werth too and Daniel Cryer. "I also like soldiers."

Tony leaned his elbows on the table. "I'm tired of getting nothing from these clean-cut zoomies. There's something unnatural about them."

Ziva had a suggestion. "I am hungry. Let's get something to eat and try again."

Tony agreed and they headed for Togo's.

Ziva saw a civilian man hand a paper to an Army woman and suddenly remembered - back at the squad room Gibbs told them what to do and handed Tony a piece of paper. "What was the paper about? The one Gibbs gave you before we left?"

Tony pulled the folded paper from his inside coat pocket and read silently. "Guess I should have looked at this sooner."

"What is it?" Ziva moved a little closer to him, maybe trying to see the paper.

Tony winced a little. "It's a list of names that O'Neill sent to Gibbs." He plucked at the turned down corner. "Short list."

"Gibbs must have wanted us to talk to them." Tony was slow in sharing and she didn't like secrets. "Who are they?"

Tony smirked. "Friends of General Wheeler. First one's a chaplain." He read the paper again and his eyes kind of bugged. "The head chaplain." Ziva looked at him with a question in her eyes so he elaborated. "The head chaplain is the Chief of all the chaplains."

Still a little confused, she asked, "He is the leader of all chaplains in the military?"

Tony shook his head. "No, just all the Air Force ones."

Her expression indicated she had finally understood. "And who are the others?"

In a stage whisper Tony admitted, "I don't think Gibbs looked at this list before he handed it to me."

tbc

* * *

**** My reasoning** behind Janet Fraiser's service and headstone. Some of her bio I stole/borrowed from the internet, some I made up.

Nov 9, 1964 Janet was born (Teryl Rothery was born Nov 9, 1962.) AND (Per the show, S. Carter was born in 1968 so I put her and Janet 4 years apart.)

May 1982 graduated high school (Janet was very smart. I have her graduating a year early. Most schools want kids to be 6 years old before Aug 15-Sept 1, depending on the state etc. Janet wouldn't have started first grade until Sept 1971. Instead of graduating from high school in May 1983, I say she graduated a year early in May 1982.)

1986 graduated from college with two bachelor degrees

1990 graduated from medical school

1990-1994 internship, residency and AF commission - captain (lexicon has Janet with 3 awards on AF longevity ribbon. That's 12 years, but less than 16. She died in 2004 so 2004 minus 12 is 1992. Not sure how accurate the ribbons are, or the lexicon, since O'Neill only had 4 awards and that's just not right, and is why my O'Neill in this story has many more than that. O'Neill's service will be covered in future chapters.

1997 Became CMO at SGC

2000 promoted to major (I looked at senior AF leadership and most generals who were commissioned as captains, spent 6-9 years as captains before being promoted to major. Janet was seen as a major in Crystal Skull so that's where I got her promotion in 2000.)

Feb 20, 2004 Dr. Janet Fraiser died (The date Heroes part 2 aired)


	9. Chapter 9

_In a stage whisper Tony admitted, "I don't think Gibbs looked at this list before he handed it to me."_

Tony stuffed the paper back in his pocket. "Let's get sandwiches and then we'll decide what to do."

They were in line before Ziva asked, "You are surprised by the names on that list, yes?"

"No, not surprised. Not after who we saw at the Wheelers."

Ziva didn't ask anything else so Tony talked about food. "I'm a carnivore. I'm going to eat like a carnivore. What are you getting?"

At the Navy Yard -

Abby had just completed another round of rests on the blood and tissue samples collected by Ducky and Jimmy when her phone rang. The call was coming from a line with a blocked ID and she almost didn't answer it.

"Miss Abigail Sciuto?"

Hesitantly, "Yes?"

"This is Clayton Jarvis, Secretary of the Navy."

She thought he sounded a little familiar, but how could she be certain? "I can't be sure you are who you say you are. What do you want?"

"I want you to meet me in the NCIS garage in 10 minutes. And you are not to tell anyone that I called or that you are meeting me. Do you understand?"

Abby was flabbergasted. "Uh... why?"

"Because I'm your boss, Miss Sciuto, and I'm giving you an order."

Wanting to keep her job, Abby agreed and spent the next few minutes confirming where everyone was, so they wouldn't come looking for her. It was only the primary team and ME staff who would question her being gone from her lab for a few minutes so she checked. Tony and Ziva were at the Pentagon, Ducky and Jimmy were in autopsy, McGee was in the bullpen and Gibbs...

"Hey Abs, you got anything yet?"

Her voice squeaked. "Gibbs! What are you doing here?"

He didn't seem surprised by her question. "Trying to put something together."

As sincerely as she could she told him, "I don't have anything. Maybe McGee does?"

"Abby, I need to know if there's anything to find in the death of General Wheeler."

"I understand and my babies are working as fast as they can, but science takes time, Gibbs."

Gibbs gave up, looked at her in a resigned way and headed out the door. Abby waited until she was sure the elevator had gone back up before she went to the stairs. She had only a minute to get to the garage.

In the squad room, McGee had just finished organizing part of what he'd found when Gibbs returned from wherever he'd been. He assumed his boss would want to know all about it right away so he went to stand in front of the plasma with the remote control in his hand. A little frustrated from his visits to autopsy and the lab, Gibbs approved of McGee's initiative and joined him.

"I'm still searching, but I have found a few things."

Gibbs' eyes asked the obvious question.

In a low voice Tim admitted, "I haven't hacked yet, but I've been able to find some things."

At a nod from Gibbs he continued. "We know a lot more about General Wheeler than we do about General O'Neill, so I concentrated on him.

Side by side on the plasma were newspaper announcements a year apart. One was for an engagement and the other was for a wedding. The wedding one had a picture of a much younger O'Neill with Sara, his new bride. McGee waited until he was sure Gibbs had gotten a good look and then he changed it to a newspaper birth announcement for a baby boy born to Major and Mrs. John J. (Jack) O'Neill. The paper was dated two years after the wedding announcement.

Using the remote he brought up a school picture of a young boy named Charlie O'Neill that he had found in the police file.

McGee spoke softly. "Charlie O'Neill, son of John and Sara O'Neill, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound when he was 8 years old."

McGee brought up a death certificate for Tyler Charles O'Neill.

Gibbs didn't say a word, but his eyes couldn't hide his anguish. His brain tried to get around the kid's name and why he was called Charlie and not Tyler, but his emotions wouldn't let him think clearly. It was only a few seconds though before he snapped to the fact that he used his middle name, or at least preferred to use it, but the kid had been pretty young to make that choice. And when he accidentally fired that gun he was left with no choices at all. The thought of a young boy dying like that brought him such sadness and thank goodness McGee pushed ahead right then.

"It was investigated by the Colorado State Police and ruled accidental. No charges were brought against the parents, even though the gun the boy used, O'Neill's personal weapon, had been left unsecured." McGee's tone didn't have a hint of sympathy.

Gibbs felt a little sick. It would have been a never-ending nightmare for the boy's parents. Sometimes charges were appropriate and sometimes they weren't and he was not going to judge either way.

McGee took a breath. "And then there's this."

The plasma changed to show a newsletter. The Air Force publication listed retirements and McGee enlarged the column he wanted to show to Gibbs. The date was just a few months after the boy died. Listed alphabetically under COLONEL were lots of names, but the one McGee highlighted was John J. O'Neill.

"Colonel O'Neill retired from the Air Force in 1995 after the death of his son."

Gibbs blinked. Okay, not the first time someone retired and was recalled. Before he could ask, McGee was ready with the next part of his little presentation. Click. It was a legal notice from a Colorado newspaper. Listed were divorces granted by the courts and McGee highlighted the part that stated - Sara O'Neill from John J. O'Neill.

Okay, son dies, parents can't make it together and get divorced. They had known O'Neill was divorced and now maybe they had a better picture as to why.

McGee clicked the remote. It was the same Air Force publication for a month in 1996. Listed under the COLONEL retirees was the name John J. O'Neill. McGee highlighted it just like he had done the first time. "He retired from the Air Force again, boss."

Gibbs shook his head. It was kind of bizarre and he couldn't think of a thing to say or ask. Instead he looked at McGee who was ready with more. The kid had certainly been busy. McGee hesitated so Gibbs said, "Don't tell me he was recalled and then retired a third time."

McGee chuckled, but there wasn't much humor in it. "No, only those two times."

He put a couple more newspaper announcements up on the plasma. One was from the Minneapolis Star Tribune in a special section called Milestones that listed accomplishments for relatives to see. The second, from a Hometown section of a paper, listed graduations, promotions, deployments and homecomings and most entries also had pictures.

"Many newspapers have started scanning old copies from years ago and making them available to subscribers and others." McGee noticed Gibbs smiling slightly as he read them.

#1 - Air Force Airman John J. O'Neill graduated from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. He is the son of Stuart and Jocelyn O'Neill of Roseville. John is a 1971 graduate of Alexander Ramsey High School.

#2 - Air Force Airman John J. (Jack) O'Neill graduated with honors from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. He was recognized as a BMT Honor Graduate and received a Warhawk Award for fitness excellence. Jack is a 1971 graduate of Alexander Ramsey High School.

Gibbs looked at the photo of fresh-faced 19-year-old John J. O'Neill and thought about the man, Lt. Gen Jack O'Neill. They were the same, but very different. And not because of time or accomplishments. The Jack O'Neill he met in person was forged by pain, just as he was.

McGee seemed to be waiting for him so he turned to the younger man and tipped his head indicating he should continue.

McGee was ready. "Using malware and a modified snooper program, I've been able to find bits and pieces all over the place. I'm still working on putting it together to get some context and I sent some photos to Abby."

Photos? Gibbs perked up. "Let's see 'em."

Tim went quickly back to his desk to get the flash drive with the photos. He hadn't expected the request, but he should have. The best thing would have been to not mention them at all.

Gibbs wanted McGee to access them faster, but he wasn't going to say anything. So far the kid had found out much more in a short time than even he had expected and without doing anything illegal. Because of that, Gibbs sat and waited. He checked his email, one of his least favorite things to do, and called a friend. Seeing that O'Neill went to BMT in 71 had made him think of another avenue for getting information.

The plasma was ready and Gibbs joined McGee once again. "These were posted on the internet in unprotected forums. Facebook, personal webpages, community photo albums, military history sites, veterans sites," and then McGee saw the look and wrapped it up with, "Things like that. I'm going through and collecting ones with dates from 1971 through 1994."

"Why that time period?" Gibbs asked about the time frame not the large number of photos.

"O'Neill graduated in 1971 and we know his son died in 1995 and that was the first time he retired. We don't know what's in-between so ..."

Gibbs was proud of the kid. He was showing some real initiative. He also seemed to work better without Tony and Ziva around. Fewer distractions and fewer insults were definitely beneficial to Tim's productivity.

"Good thinking, Tim. Let me see a few." The excited look on the younger agent's face reminded Gibbs to compliment him more often.

McGee grinned and clicked away.

A couple of minutes later Gibbs answered his cell phone.

"Hi boss."

Still looking at photos as they flashed on the screen, Gibbs asked, "How are you, DiNozzo?"

Tony was surprised he was in such a good mood, but played along. "I'm fine. Ziva's fine."

"Uh huh. What do you want, DiNozzo?"

"Have you had lunch yet, boss?" He didn't wait for a reply. "Because if you haven't we could bring you a sandwich from Togo's. Ziva had the veggie wrap thing, but I had pastrami and I think you'd really like it."

With a hand signal Gibbs told McGee to stop the photo presentation and he rested his backside against the front of his desk. "Have you found out anything about General Wheeler?"

"Not really. One person didn't even know he'd died."

"What about General O'Neill?"

"Him either." Tony sounded disappointed that he didn't have anything case shattering to report. "The people were all tight-lipped though Ziva did find out..."

"Put Ziva on."

"Gibbs, I don't know why Tony told you that. I have not found out anything either."

Gibbs wasn't surprised that they didn't have a thing and that they were bickering. "What about the names on the list?"

"Did you see the list, boss?"

Ziva had quickly given the phone back to DiNozzo.

"I only ask because if you had I don't think you'd be asking us that."

Gibbs sighed. He hadn't looked at the list and now he wondered who in the world could be on it. "Names," he demanded from Tony.

"Uh, there are three and they are all way up there."

Gibbs barked, "Names, DiNozzo."

tbc

* * *

Thanks for reading.

BMT - basic military training

*****My reasoning** for Jack's bio, at least part of it. More will be revealed in future chapters.  
Oct 1952 Jack was born  
Aug 1959 started first grade when he was 6 almost 7  
May 1971 graduated from high school, he was 18  
Sept-Oct 1971 went to BMT became Airman O'Neill just after he turned 19


	10. Chapter 10

_Gibbs barked, "Names, DiNozzo."_

Gibbs' expression brought McGee to his side and he moved his hand in a way to explain that he needed paper. He pulled a pen from his pocket and turned to the desk just as McGee put down a notepad for him to use.

"DiNozzo, you and Ziva go talk to Wheeler's neighbor. The one who performed CPR."

Gibbs disconnected the call and then with a look to McGee he headed for the stairs.

Vance looked at the list warily. "I see what you mean."

"Director, I'm not sure I should be talking to those three until Ducky says General Wheeler's death was from something besides natural causes."

With a slight nod Vance declared, "We need those test results from Ms. Sciuto." He was surprised the agent was showing some restraint.

Gibbs sat down in a chair in front of the big desk. "She'll tell us when she has something."

Both stayed quiet for a bit until Gibbs confessed, "I don't think there's anything here, Leon. The team wants to pull phone records for everyone including O'Neill, but I haven't authorized that yet. Not sure how we'd justify warrants anyway."

"We've had some questionable warrants lately." He looked pointedly at Gibbs. "Do you think anyone is trying to hide calls... contact?"

"Don't know for sure, but my gut says no."

They talked for a while about Wheeler and O'Neill and if the case was a case. Vance claimed he didn't know why Jarvis was so interested, but he suspected it was about political power. For that one reason both men agreed not to tell SecNav anything until he ordered them to. At that time they could make whatever decision was right for them and to heck with him.

Gibbs explained about not being able to find out who Wheeler reported to and Vance said that was one thing he would talk to Jarvis about because the SecNav should be able to get that information. Vance suggested using some contacts to find out more about Wheeler and O'Neill and Gibbs admitted that he intended to talk to the Commandant. He didn't mention that he might know someone who went to BMT with O'Neill. Vance said he'd think about speaking to his counterparts at FBI, CIA, ICE and a couple of other people.

Both men sat silently thinking for almost a full minute before a phone rang and Vance growled, "If that's Jarvis again I'm going to hit something," and looked right at Gibbs before adding "Or someone."

The caller wasn't SecNav and Gibbs left with a better understanding of Vance. The man hated the case as much as he did. Oh sure he was curious. Who wouldn't be? But snooping around in military programs (and men's lives) was not a good thing for any of them.

Early the next morning -

Gibbs smiled at the man sitting across from him in the booth. Brad lived down the street until he decided to sell the house and move someplace without so much yard work. He looked good and Gibbs couldn't help noticing the hearing aids he'd finally accepted after so many years on the flight line. After the required small talk about family, friends, jobs, cars and the weather, Gibbs started asking questions.

"You went to BMT in '71, right?"

Brad looked amused and confused, but confirmed it. "Yeah, in the late summer, early fall... when it was cooler."

Gibbs nodded knowingly. The man was joking because even then in Texas it was hot, humid and miserable.

"Did you know a John J. O'Neill when you were there? Probably went by Jack?"

Brad took a sip of hot coffee and stared out the diner window as he thought back to his time at Lackland. Another sip and then another until he put down the empty mug. "Jack O'Neill. Two Ls. Tall. Brown eyes and brown hair, but he didn't have much hair." He smiled. "Neither did I."

Gibbs smirked a little. "What do you remember about him?"

Brad looked at Gibbs curiously. His friend and former neighbor didn't ask questions about people without good reasons and rarely had a good reason.

"Natural leader. Very sharp." Brad seemed to be remembering. "Everything came easy."

He stayed thoughtful for a bit and Gibbs knew his mind had gone back to those weeks in '71 when boys were broken down to be built up as men. Airmen. Gibbs understood because he had his own memories.

Brad smiled at a memory, looked at Gibbs and added, "Had a wicked sense of humor."

Natural leader. Could be one reason the Air Force kept wanting him back. The man went to BMT and was promoted all the way to lieutenant general. Oh yeah, he was a heck of a leader. As for wicked sense of humor, well, except for the sticky buns Gibbs hadn't seen that, but maybe too many bad things and too much time. Plus his friend had just died so wrong situation.

"I wonder why he didn't go to college." Gibbs asked, but knew as Brad did that extremely intelligent did not always translate to good in school.

"I don't know. Blue collar? Like me, like you. Or didn't have the grades I guess."

Gibbs knew as well as anyone that getting into college wasn't easy and paying for it, even with scholarships and grants, was a challenge. And not everyone knew what they wanted to be when they grew up, so college wasn't always a good option anyway, especially right out of high school. The Air Force Academy wasn't an option for most either.

"You went to tech school and had a good career."

Brad shook his head. "I retired from my first career, TSgt with 21 years because it would have meant taking my family to the Philippines or going by myself for probably two years, maybe three before I would have a very slim chance of moving up to master."

Gibbs understood. Promotion in the military was not as easy as some people tried to make it. There were always conditions and hoops to jump through and limited slots the higher you went. MSgt was a senior non-com position and basically a supervisory job and Brad had trouble keeping his own kids reined it. Not everyone was cut out for bossing around adults.

"We had already done three years in Japan and three years in Germany and much of my stateside time we were at Minot, Grand Forks and Ellsworth. I didn't get Florida, Texas or California postings. I didn't even get Kansas." He smirked a little. "McConnell would have been a great place, even with the tornadoes and the humidity."

Brad felt like talking and told Gibbs about moving his family from Minot to Emerado three hours away. He joked about how he couldn't get out of North Dakota. Then he talked about the many tours. "I left them home alone for over four years while I did 13-month isolated tours at Osan, Kunsan, Incirlik and Thule. Not to mention all the TD Yonder."

Gibbs smiled and nodded. Only the Air Force would call temporary duty TD Yonder like wild blue yonder. Then he sobered. The service was tough on dependents and was a double-edged sword. Was it better to move them or give them a permanent home and part-time father? What was he saying? Military life almost always made people be part-time parents. Knew that when you signed up. Knew that when you had kids.

The server came by and refilled their coffee mugs.

"Do you ever regret enlisting?" He could have asked about the times he'd re-upped too, but decided not to mention them.

"Oh h*** no. I also don't regret getting out when I did."

Gibbs thought about his own situation. If he hadn't lost Shannon and Kelly he would probably have stayed in for his 30.

The men drank coffee in silence until Brad revealed, "I think the PJs wanted O'Neill."

That got Gibbs' attention. He remembered the master parachutist badge and the medals. "Did you see him after Lackland?"

Brad shook his head. "No, the only guys I saw went to aircraft maintenance school and then we all went our separate ways." Brad got the server's attention and ordered eggs over easy, bacon and toast for them both. "I can suggest someone who might know about him."

Gibbs looked interested, but didn't say anything.

"I don't know why you're asking about O'Neill, but Jethro, you've never been one to ask unless you really needed something." Brad sipped his coffee and waited a while before he said, "The guy is discreet."

Gibbs nodded, but couldn't help thinking about Dr. Samantha Ryan and what she might know about O'Neill and Wheeler and Colorado Springs. Wouldn't SecNav have asked the brain-gamer about the secret program or whatever it was? He needed to think.

0800 at the Navy Yard -

Leon Vance hung up the receiver and sighed. CIA Director Roger Kirkwood hadn't been any help, but Vance knew the man was not being forthcoming. It was obvious he knew something that he couldn't talk about, but all he did was tell Vance emphatically to drop it and that just made Vance want to dig into it even more. He thought his hate for the CIA had peaked with Trent Kort, but he was wrong. A minute later he dialed the number for FBI Director Barry Hutchins.

tbc

* * *

Thanks for reading.

BMT - basic military training

I used h*** to keep this rated K+. I know, I know it's probably considered 'minor coarse language, but I'd rather not spell it out.


	11. Chapter 11

0801 in Abby's lab -

The basic screen for drugs in urine and blood had shown zero amounts of opiates, amphetamines, marijuana, alcohol and barbiturates. Abby crinkled her nose in concentration as she looked at the next round of results. All the other drugs requiring a prescription were in normal amounts for someone who had received treatment for possible heart attack first by EMTs and then by emergency room doctors. The only one not needing a prescription was aspirin. General Wheeler took aspirin and vitamins and that's all he took. The witnesses had been honest and now she was going to be dishonest.

Trying to put it out of her mind, Abby went back to the photographs. If she could just find something that would give Gibbs a road to go down. She needed his focus away from the test results, because she didn't want to lie to him. She might have to keep things from him, but lying to him was not an option.

At a private residence in Arlington, Alexandria, Annandale, McLean, Falls Church or it could have been Bethesda or maybe ...

"Long time no see," Jack O'Neill greeted the exhilarated officer. "Glad you could make it."

Jacobs laughed. "Fastest trip from Quantico to DC, sir... ever."

Brigadier General Kaden Jacobs, Commander of Air Force Office of Special Investigations, was still in a daze as he stood just outside the spacious kitchen. He'd thought the meeting would be at the Pentagon, but here he was in the man's home, having gotten there in the most unusual way.

O'Neill laughed as they sat down at the table and he poured them each some coffee from a fresh pot. "It was past time for you to get the chance." He looked at the man closely and asked, "They treat you okay?"

"Oh, more than okay, sir, though I have to admit I didn't know what to expect."

Jacobs had been driven away from Quantico in a large official SUV which had very dark tinted windows in all except the windshield and front sides. It was him, the driver and another man, sitting in the same row. After only about a mile, the man next to him said, "General Jacobs, I'm going to tell you something and it's important that you not react in any way ."

Turned out that there was another man in the car, one with a brown receding hairline about the same height who had laid curled up on the third seat covered with a large, gray tarp matching the vehicle 's interior. The tinted windows had an extra dark clingy film on them to keep traffic cameras and satellites from being able to see inside the vehicle.

A couple of miles ahead the driver stopped the car and popped the hood. It was explained that anybody watching would be distracted by him getting out of the car, looking at the front tire and then lifting up the hood, while inside Jacobs would trade places with the look-alike.

The exchange had been quick and no sooner had Jacobs felt the tarp against his face, he also felt a strange tingling. He was not laying on the comfortable bench seat of the SUV, but on the hard floor of what he didn't know. He blinked, saw two men in flight duty uniforms looking at him and then hands grabbed his and pulled him to his feet. The two men stiffened to attention and one greeted him, "General Jacobs, welcome aboard The USS George Hammond."

Because O'Neill was waiting for him, a tour of the ship would have to wait, but he was intrigued and very pleased. They politely gave him an opportunity to use the restroom, get a drink of water and catch his breath as he gazed down at Earth. He thought about when and how he'd learned of the Stargate Program. It was 2004 and Anubis attacked Earth. He was special assistant to the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Counterintelligence and Security and was in the room when SecDef got the first call about the invasion. The man's complexion blanched and he had looked both angry and fearful at the same time.

Jacobs then heard things from nightmares and B movies and been sworn to secrecy. He didn't know anything else about Stargate Command until he was promoted to brigadier in 2010 and put in charge of AFOSI. Even then he knew nothing about the day-to-day operation of the secret program. SGC didn't have crime, not even petty theft like other bases so AFOSI had no thing to do there. To some it would be eerie or curious or cause for alarm, after all, it could only be that the commander was stupid or blind, but the truth was the selection process for SGC assignment worked. The people were very committed to their mission and wouldn't do anything to endanger the United States or Earth. They all wanted to be a part of the top secret command and wouldn't do anything to jeopardize its legacy.

When he was ready, or about six minutes from when he was beamed up, Jacobs felt the same tingling and before he knew it, he was standing in a walk-in closet. The door opened and Lt. Colonel Paul Davis was there to hang up his overcoat and uniform jacket and then lead him around the corner to the living area.

That had all happened about 10 minutes a go and now they needed to stop the small talk and get down to business.

"First off, we're secure here. It's actually a better SCIF than the White House situation room." After Jacobs nodded, O'Neill continued. "Have you heard any rumblings about an NCIS investigation into General Ron Wheeler's death?"

Jacobs looked surprised. "Not a word, sir."

O'Neill could tell that Jacobs didn't kn ow Wheeler had died. "He collapsed at home, was DOA at the hospital."

Pushing aside his surprise and sadness, Jacobs confirmed,"General O'Neill, natural cause deaths don't get NCIS investigations."

"Yeah, and we're 99% sure it was, but NC IS has his body and they're investigating like it's murder or something."

Jacobs stared at O'Neill while his brain whirled. "Sir, you and General Wheeler were friends. Have they asked to speak to you?"

O'Neill sighed. "Oh, yeah and I met with them."

Davis fidgeted a little and Jacobs picked up on it. "There's more?"

"Yeah, I got the feeling I'm a suspect."

Incensed, Jacobs declared, "They're investigating a probable natural death as if it's a homicide and they suspect you?"

O'Neill laid his palms flat on the table. "The lead investigator, Gibbs, was at Wheeler's home the night he died."

"Leroy Jethro Gibbs. He's relentless, sir."

O'Neill tipped his head in agreement. "He and his ragtag team showed up there right before a group of us left."

"A group, sir?"

O'Neill and Davis explained about who went to the house and why. O'Neill told him about the President and SecDef suggesting the meeting with Gibbs at the Pentagon and the accusation that he and Elizabeth Wheeler were having an affair. Jacobs did his best to stay calm while inside he was screaming that O'Neill should have had counsel with him or better yet, not met with them at all. He felt relief that someone had sat in, even an aide, but if Gibbs was looking for a suspect, someone needed to steer him away from General O'Neill. That wasn't going to happen now. Then O'Neill dropped another bomb .

"Gibbs only knows that I was Ron's friend. He doesn't know I was his CO," O'Neill admitted.

Jacobs asked, "Who does he think General Wheeler reported to?"

"He doesn't know, but I'm certain he's looking."

"And snooping, sir," Davis added.

They told Jacobs about the people asking questions at the Pentagon food court.

"I know what you're thinking, but I didn't lie to him." With that confession O'Neill told him what Gibbs and McGee did ask and what he said to them.

Jacobs tried to get his brain around why NCIS would be doing what they were apparently doing. "AFOSI can't get involved. .. officially. JAG is a different issue. " He saw the acceptance in O'Neill's eyes.

"I know General Hoover well. He was at Peterson and of course now..." O'Neill didn't need to finish the sentence. Lieutenant General Richard Hoover, The Air Force Judge Advocate General had been Staff Judge Advocate at Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs from 2004 to 2006.

Jacobs saw O'Neill's eyes and knew he knew. "NCIS would not investigate without a reason and if the reason isn't cause of death then it has to be..."

O'Neill finished it. "The Program."

"Yes, sir, and that means there's a puppet master because Gibbs would not spend time on this unless ordered."

Davis volunteered, "I get the impression, sirs, that he'd go to Timbuktu and back to find out what happened to any marine or sailor."

Jacobs agreed with that statement, but he also knew the man would have waited for the ME, especially since Wheeler died at a hospital after collapsing and there was no obvious evidence of foul play. Even poisoning would have had specific symptoms and left recognizable signs on the body.

"The hospital would have arranged for an autopsy, just to confirm what they think happened and get ahead of any possible liability, but unless they suspected something nefarious, the Major Case Response Team wouldn't even know about it until after or maybe during the autopsy."

With a big sigh O'Neill surmised, "That means the puppet master is Director Vance or Secretary Jarvis."

"I'm thinking the same thing, sir."

O'Neill had noticed Jacobs' minute react ion to his admission about speaking to Gibbs. "I met with them to try to keep them from snooping around Wheeler's assignment, and that didn't work out well. You need to know that I gave Gibbs a phone number to reach me."

Davis clarified. "It's an encrypted phone, General Jacobs, that will only connect to one number. Gibbs' cell phone."

Jacobs frowned. He could use that. "That 's okay, sir... I think."

"You think he'll call me." It was a statement, not a question.

Jacobs smiled. "I know he will, sir." With a twinkle in his eye he told them, "Gibbs doesn't really have anything yet. He can't get General Wheeler's jacket and he can't get yours. He sent people to ask questions hoping to get information to convince a judge to issue warrants."

O'Neill smirked. "He'll call me to do some fishing."

"Yes, sir, I believe he will."

They spent the next few minutes discussing what to do about the Pentagon information that revealed Wheeler's association with the Air Force and how to leak a name for Wheeler's CO or if they even should. Jacobs was going to find out about warrants and test the water for judges who might have been approached. NCIS was predictable and liked certain judges while they avoided others. Then they talked about ways to uncover who was pulling the strings and what to do about it.

"I have to admit I like the phone better than in person."

Jacobs assured him. "You'll do fine, sir, but there are two things. Don't lie to him and don't insult his team."

With a nod of understanding O'Neill asked, "Should I record the conversation?"

tbc

* * *

Thanks for reading.


	12. Chapter 12

A couple of fatal traffic accidents that really were accidents kept them in the field much of the day and a petty officer assaulting his girlfriend kept them occupied for another couple of hours. Gibbs left the team writing their reports and met with Vance to discuss what they had, didn't have and what the plan was for the next day. The SecNav had called again and Vance was not a happy camper.

Ducky was ready to certify General Wheeler's death as natural causes, but needed Abby's report first. Abby told Gibbs she was still working on it, her machines too, and while she waited she worked on the photos McGee had gathered. Gibbs had talked to McGee, and separately to Ziva and Tony, but he would wait until the next day to get them all together and go over everything they knew. The day had been basically worthless, except for his getting a time to meet with General Chuck Ellison, so Gibbs sent everyone home by 1630 and told them to be back at 0730 with some fresh ideas.

He went home to his basement to work and think.

0728 Friday morning -

Ziva, Tony and Tim had only enough time to open their mail boxes before Gibbs breezed in and prodded them. "C'mon, let's go over what we have." The three looked less than enthusiastic until they saw that he had brought tea and flavored coffee. And then Gibbs' phone rang. A Metro cop on routine patrol had found a dead sailor less than a block from a bus stop.

The murder scene had been horrific and they had no leads at all. There were no witnesses. There were no surveillance cameras anywhere close to show anything at all. The neighboring streets had a few traffic cameras, but more than 1000 vehicles passed by in the two hours surrounding Ducky's estimated time of death. The weapon, a rock, had been left by the body. Several like it were found in the alley nearby. Abby couldn't get anything from the palm size stone except the victim's blood. The alley didn't have a dumpster and the weekend earlier a neighborhood group had cleaned up all the trash and debris. There was no new trash or debris to go through. there were no footprints or tire tracks.

The deceased had no family, no close friends and a perfect service record. His shocked and saddened co-workers and CO had nothing except great things to say about him. He'd only been assigned to the ship for two weeks and it was set to deploy to the Middle east in two days. His financials were squeaky clean, his phone records showed he didn't get many calls and didn't make many calls. He watched a lot of TV and movies and spent most of his free time alone. He was friendly and easy to get along with, but two weeks in port wasn't long enough for anyone to get to know him. He'd been on a 4 hour pass (1800-2200), his last until they docked somewhere else.

DiNozzo had been insufferable with the jokes and Gibbs sent Tim and Ziva to the next block to see if any homeless saw or knew anything so he could talk to his SFA alone. Even when he had a clue that Gibbs wasn't happy with him, DiNozzo wouldn't stop with the snide, cutting remarks, most of them comparing the dead sailor to both McGee and Gibbs, and finally Gibbs let him have it. It wasn't pretty and Tony got his feelings hurt, but Gibbs didn't care. The man was always jumping on the line and that day he'd crossed it more than once or twice.

They couldn't find any cases that were similar that might indicate a multiple offender. Without a single lead to follow, they had no path to go down. It looked like a random act of violence and those were the worst kinds because those were cases that hardly ever got solved. The would continue to search for something to get them going, but not full-time and not when they had other cases to work. Nobody liked it, but it was the way it worked.

At 1805, tired and discouraged, they gathered in the bull pen and Gibbs gave them their marching orders. It was Friday and they were on call all weekend. Gibbs wanted them to get into the office on Saturday, they could come as late as 1100 unless he called them before that, but he wanted them finishing their reports and then they would all continue working on the Wheeler case for two or three hours... or more. He sweetened the deal by ordering them to put down the extra hours as overtime. Jarvis and Vance wanted answers and he figured paid OT was the least that could provide. Then he told them to go home and he'd see them the next day. The look he gave DiNozzo made it clear that there would not be a repeat of his behavior on Saturday.

When his three agents headed out, Gibbs went to see Abby. Then after calling Vance to give a short update and explain the plan for Saturday, he went home.

An hour or so later, after eating some dinner and sipping a wee bit of bourbon, Gibbs called Brad's friend and contact, retired Air Force Colonel Bob Rymer, who was home watching TV and didn't mind the interruption. He told Gibbs that he knew O'Neill in the 70s and 80s and knew a little about him in the 90s and would be glad to share the information. Brad had told him it was important and that Gibbs was discreet. Gibbs smiled at that remark.

After BMT O'Neill went to Superman School and was one of four who made it through.

Gibbs knew the training, like SEAL training, usually started with about 100 guys.

O'Neill excelled at everything and was part of Pararescue for a while. He qualified for many roles on Special Tactics teams and had been assigned (farmed out) to Army Special Forces, Army Rangers and Navy SEAL teams. It was during that time that he disappeared from Rymer's radar.

Gibbs knew the services often borrowed and shared people for teams and missions, especially guys who were exceptional.

In the fall of 1982, O'Neill resurfaced at Scott Air Force Base after the Military Airlift Command activated the 23rd Air Force. The new numbered Air Force was charged with special operations worldwide and Captain O'Neill was a Special Tactics Officer commanding Special Operations Forces Teams for some of the nation's most demanding missions.

If O'Neill was exceptional, it made sense he'd be at the center of everything.

Rymer told Gibbs he heard that O'Neill took Advanced Placement, CLEP and Dantes exams, and proficiency and comprehensive exams to get ahead in the game. He called O'Neill brilliant and said he hadn't indicated going to school to be a problem. Officer Training School (OTS) had been a piece of cake too.

In late 1984, while on an unofficial mission over the Iran/Iraq border, O'Neill had a parachuting mishap. No rescue was sent to get him and nine days later, suffering from a skull fracture and other serious injuries, O'Neill made it to safety on his own. After he recovered he spent some time at test pilot school and then at Edwards AFB and since he wasn't being deployed all over the world, he went back to school to get a Master's degree.

Nine days in the desert, alone and severely injured, and he had saved himself. Gibbs didn't just think O'Neill was exceptional, he knew it for sure.

In June of 1986, Captain O'Neill became Major O'Neill and returned to Special Operations Command, again serving as Special Tactics Officer. In 87 or 88, Rymer wasn't sure, O'Neill accompanied another team under the command of a guy named Cromwell. The mission went south. O'Neill was declared MIA (presumed KIA) after he was shot, believed to be dead and left behind. The team leader made the decision to leave his body behind and save the rest of his men. Rymer learned later that O'Neill had been captured and then tortured for more than four months before he managed to escape. He recovered from the months of captivity and returned to Edwards AFB where he participated in developing and testing aerodynamic designs and aircraft. Rymer heard he went back to Spec Ops, but didn't know for sure. In 1997 when Rymer got together with a bunch of guys, he heard that Colonel O'Neill, and a couple of other guys he used to know, had been hand-picked for a special project in Colorado Springs. He guessed it was probably at Peterson AFB. That was the last he heard anything about Jack O'Neill.

Gibbs thought about his own time in Colombia when he'd been wounded. He'd had help or his fate.. he wouldn't have made it back like O'Neill had. Now he had an independent source telling him about Colorado Springs and a special project. He knew Wheeler and O'Neill were in it neck deep. Rymer gave him two names: Charles Kawalsky and Louis Ferretti.

Rymer added that most of O'Neill's missions (from 73 until he was captured) were top-secret with the details sealed under executive order by four different Presidents. The man was legendary in US Special Operations Command and held in high esteem by officers and enlisted in all the services, but he was also respected by the CIA, NSA and FBI. Rymer told Gibbs that O'Neill was highly decorated too and knew for sure the man had been awarded the AF Cross, Silver Star, AF Distinguished Service Medal, Airman's Medal, Bronze Star Medal and Air Medal.

Only the Airman's Medal, the AF Distinguished Service Medal and the Air Medal were on O'Neill's salad bar so why didn't he wear the AF Cross, Silver Star and Bronze Star? And he'd been shot so why didn't he have a Purple Heart? Regulations said you had to wear all your decorations, so why didn't the General and who gave him permission to not display them? The man worked everyday with very high-ranking military officers and somebody knew he wasn't wearing all his medals and ribbons.

Gibbs thanked Rymer for talking to him and they agreed to meet someday soon for steaks and beer at Brad's house.

He sat in his basement. Thinking. And sanding. And drinking. And thinking some more. He needed to get his head around O'Neill. The man had so many layers. General Ellison had said he'd see him at 0700 the next day and then Gibbs would give Tobias Fornell a call. If what Rymer said was true then the FBI would have a file on ONeill. At about 2300 he wandered upstairs and went to bed. Saturday would be a new day.

tbc

* * *

Thanks very much for reading.

BMT - basic military training  
Superman school is informal term for training to become a PJ. Also referred to as 'the pipeline.' PJs are pararescue jumpers.

**Effective Dates of Promotion for Jack O'Neill for this story**  
Airman Sept 1971  
Not sure what I want for his promotions here. His history with the Stargate Program is as an officer so...  
Second Lieutenant Jun 1978 after Officer Training School  
First Lieutenant Jun 1980  
Captain Jun 1982  
Major Jun 1986  
Lieutenant Colonel May 1990  
Colonel Feb 1994  
Retired 1995  
Recalled and retired 1996  
Recalled 1997  
Brigadier General Jul 2004  
Major General Mar 2007  
Lieutenant General May 2009

I looked at senior Air Force leaders on the Official Site of The US Air Force and using what I found, I made up Jack's service. I took into account his injuries in the parachuting mishap and his time as a POW.


	13. Chapter 13

0658 Saturday, at 8th and I, inside the home of The Commandant of the Marine Corps. -

General Charles "Chuck" Ellison greeted Gibbs cordially before dismissing his aide with a look. The young Marine went to stand all the way across the big room.

"I'm sorry I couldn't see you before this morning."

"It's no problem, sir." He had seen the vehicles waiting outside and the aide was holding an overcoat. "I won't keep you long."

Ellison nodded, and then indicated for Gibbs to sit down.

"Sir, I need to know about General Ronald Wheeler."

The man looked at Gibbs for a few seconds. "Ron Wheeler, Major General, a good man, married, kids, grand kids. Why are you asking about him?"

"His death might not be from natural causes."

Ellison looked surprised. "Might not be? Don't you know?"

Gibbs knew he was stretching the truth when he said, "The autopsy was not conclusive. Waiting on some more tests. In the mean time, we investigate."

The General didn't look convinced. "Gibbs, I don't know what you want me to tell you."

Gibbs knew then that he'd need to ask direct questions like he'd done with O'Neill. "General, what was he doing with the Air Force?"

The man's face stayed neutral, but Gibbs thought there might be something there.

"Special Project."

Uh, huh.

"Who did he report to?"

"Gibbs... "

Debating how much to tell him, Gibbs made a quick decision. "I need to talk to his co-workers, sir. The only friend of his I've been able to talk to is an Air Force General." Gibbs saw the General's eyes and felt compelled to add, "O'Neill."

Ellison perked up. "O'Neill talked to you?"

Gibbs nodded and asked, "Do you know him?"

"Yes."

Gibbs wanted more. "Sir, I want to know more about O'Neill. I need to talk to more of Wheeler's friends. I need his CO."

The intense look between the two men became obvious to the aide who was standing 20-25 feet away. Ellison glanced at him to stop him from walking over.

"O'Neill didn't give you any names?"

The conversation wasn't going the way Gibbs hoped it would. "Yes, sir. He gave me three names, but I haven't spoken to them yet."

The General had a small frown. "Why not?"

"I'm not ready to try to talk to the Air Force Chief of Chaplains, the Chaplain of the Marine Corps or the Judge Advocate General of the Navy."

Ellison laughed and Gibbs didn't.

"You know The JAG. Why don't you want to talk to her?"

Gibbs shook his head in wonder and then decided to probe a little. "Sir, were you and General Wheeler friends?"

"I knew him. We talked every once in a while."

Gibbs decided to go for broke.

"We have him in Colorado Springs from 2002 to 2004. Do you know what he was doing there?"

Gibbs saw the man's eyes narrow just a little. He knew it was his mention of Colorado Springs.

"General O'Neill was there too." Gibbs knew from Ellison's body language that he'd pushed too far as soon as he got the statement out.

"Gibbs, I like you, I respect you and I value our friendship, and that's why I'm telling you to stop looking into Colorado Springs."

Before Gibbs could respond the General added, "I suggest you verify quickly what caused General Wheeler's death. You've strayed into an area where you do not belong." He looked right into Gibbs' eyes and said, "It was good to see you, Jethro," as he stood up, ending the meeting.

Gibbs stood, but couldn't let it go. Not yet. "General, Wheeler's CO?"

The General's aide walked over and handed over the coat.

Gibbs knew the General heard him and had chosen not to respond so he said, "Thank you for your time, sir. It was good to see you too."

Gibbs walked back to his car before pulling out his cell phone. Tobias had his daughter, Emily, for the weekend, but Gibbs would leave him a voice message so on Monday morning he could see about a file on O'Neill. He'd ask about Wheeler having a file too. When he got to the Navy Yard he would have the team look for whatever they could find on Kawalsky, Ferretti and Fraiser too.

As he drove, Gibbs thought about what Ellison had said. The man only suggested he not look further into Colorado Springs and that meant into O'Neill and Wheeler too. The case that didn't seem like a case was looking more and more like one. He didn't ask Ellison about a possible affair between O'Neill and the wife. Why didn't he? He didn't because he was 99% sure there hadn't been an affair and if he was wrong about that, then he was 99% sure that it had nothing to do with General Wheeler's death. The doubt about looking into Wheeler's death and the Air Force was creeping back in.

It was just after 0900 when DiNozzo and David came out of the elevator. McGee had arrived about five minutes before that and Abby had called to say she was in and working on photos. The coats were hung, the backpacks stored and the three agents looked ready so Gibbs forged ahead before any of them could start in on what they had or hadn't done with their Friday evening.

"Let's go," he commanded, moving over to stand in front of the plasma. "You can work on your reports from yesterday after we finish here."

Tim went first and covered the son's death, O'Neill's divorce, BMT, retirements, etc. He reminded them about the photos and that he and Abby were still working on and when he finished he stepped back to let the others have their turn.

"Ziva" A long pause. She wasn't ready so, "DiNozzo, go."

"I talked to many, many people at the Pentagon. No one would tell me anything about Wheeler or O'Neill."

Ziva had woken up and continued their woeful tale. "I also spoke to many people and learned nothing."

Gibbs wanted more information. "We need to find out where Wheeler worked and who he reported to."

McGee agreed. "We have to talk to his co-workers. We don't even know where his office is."

DiNozzo insisted, "They're all hiding something."

Gibbs was the only one who had put it together. "No, they're protecting something."

The three other agents didn't respond to his conclusion.

Instead, DiNozzo ran with, "After we struck out at the Pentagon, we went to talk to the neighbor. Lance Corporal Damon Fallan, was at his parent's home when Mrs. Wheeler called. He ran next door and found the husband unresponsive."

Ziva jumped in when Tony took a breath. "He checked for a pulse and then performed CPR with Mrs. Wheeler helping. Emergency Services arrived and took over."

"Ah yes, but what Ms. David has not told you," and he looked at McGee because Gibbs already knew, "is that we know something else. Something big." Tony looked pleased with himself and half smirked, waiting for McGee to ask him what it was that only he and Ziva had learned.

Gibbs glared as Tony told them, "General O'Neill picked up Mrs. Wheeler from the hospital and took her home."

Tony grinned and Ziva told Tim, "The neighbor drove Mrs. Wheeler to the hospital because she couldn't go in the ambulance. She used his cell phone to make a call to O'Neill and then send a text message."

"DiNozzo?"

"I'm sorry, Gibbs. We did not mention the two calls."

"Her first call was not to her sons or her daughters. Her first call was to General Jack O'Neill," Tony finished with a gleeful flourish.

Not to be outdone and recovered from her confession to Gibbs, Ziva almost cackled, "The neighbor said they arrived back at the house more than two hours before the secret service showed up."

McGee, who hadn't heard any of it before, sounded outraged when he said, "He lied." Then he knocked his hand against the keyboard and growled, "He said the last time he was alone with her was before dinner a month ago."

Tony cried, "I knew it. The zoomies at the Pentagon are protecting O'Neill. They know about him and the wife." And then he demanded, "I say we bring him in."

Ziva and Tim both looked like they agreed with him.

Gibbs didn't agree, but asked, "For what, DiNozzo?"

With eyes blazing, Tony exclaimed, "Lying to a federal agent... and obstruction!"

"This isn't about an affair, if there even was one. We need to know more about Colorado and why General Wheeler was working with the Air Force. Concentrate on that." He looked at McGee and said, "Work with Abby, go through those photos."

Ziva was following Tony more and more and pleaded, "Gibbs, we have not looked at phone records for anyone."

"Hey, that's right. You told us not to." Tony turned to the younger agent and ordered, "McGee, do your thing."

Gibbs was adamant. "No. Not yet." He looked at each of them, right in their eyes, and they got the message. "O'Neill, Wheeler and Colorado. Use your intuition. Use your contacts. Use your imagination. Find something." Grabbing his coat he left the three to hash out whatever and then work on gathering more information. Before the elevator door slid closed, he heard McGee tell DiNozzo to shut up and that he was going to work with Abby.

The walk around the perimeter of the building, courtyard and parking area wasn't long enough so Gibbs took another lap. He tried to remember the questions and answers from the interview with O'Neill and kept coming up short. Oh, he had most of it in his memory, but some of the exchange when O'Neill got defensive about Mrs. Wheeler was a little hazy. They needed to get past the affair implication and get to what was really going on. His team wasn't listening to his gut so he needed to get something else to convince them. He needed to talk to O'Neill again. What the heck? He had a phone number. He'd just call him.

tbc

* * *

Thanks very much for reading.


	14. Chapter 14

With the decision made to call O'Neill, Gibbs found a bench to sit on, pulled out his cell phone and reached for the blue mini card with the contact number. O'Neill said to call so he was calling. He hadn't thought to have McGee check the number and now that he looked at it, he realized it was a cell phone number. Wondering who would answer, maybe the captain, or one of the other aides, generals had more than one or two usually, Gibbs punched in the number. It was 1015.

He counted five rings and heard, "Good morning, Special Agent Gibbs."

It was the general's voice. Why was he surprised?

"Same to you, General O'Neill. You said call if I needed anything."

"Actually, I said call for another short appointment if you have questions." A short pause and, "What can I do for you?"

Gibbs couldn't help but like O'Neill. His phone number usually came up as restricted or unavailable with respect to the caller ID feature, but somehow O'Neill knew it was him. He put it out of his mind vowing to think more about it later and talk to McGee.

"Just some clarification. The last time you were at the house alone with Mrs. Wheeler was when you went to dinner?" Thinking a reminder would jog the man's memory, Gibbs threw out, "You said you ate meatloaf and mashed potatoes."

O'Neill replied, "No, Special Agent Gibbs. That was a time in the recent past when I was there."

Before he could respond, Gibbs heard O'Neill mutter something like "can't believe they still think" before he heard an emphatic, "The last time I was alone with my friend was Tuesday after her husband died."

Gibbs' brain scrambled to remember the conversation. McGee did say to name a more recent time. He did not say last time. O'Neill hadn't lied or misled them on that. Maybe most people would relate the last time they did something, but it didn't mean they all would and the general was definitely different from most people. As long as he seemed up for talking, Gibbs decided to go for it.

"I need to talk to the people, besides you, who saw General Wheeler the morning before he died."

O'Neill didn't hesitate. "Tuesday, 1100, Captain Taylor will have them in the same conference room you and Special Agent McGee used on Wednesday."

Okay. That was almost too easy.

"Why not tomorrow or Monday? Or give me their names and I'll send agents to their homes to talk to them."

O'Neill almost sounded amused. Almost. "Tuesday, 1100."

Gibbs couldn't fault O'Neill. Not really. He and McGee should have asked for their names or to speak to them when they were at The Pentagon on Wednesday. Why hadn't they asked for the people who saw the General and talked to him? Everything about the case was messed up.

"I can charge you with obstruction?"

"Go ahead. Otherwise I'll see you at 1100 on Tuesday."

Gibbs decided to let it go. "My team is also working on the timeline for the events after General Wheeler collapsed." He purposely didn't say died or passed away. He was after all, trying to determine O'Neill's honesty and complicity. "Do you remember what time you were notified?"

"It was 1221."

Gibbs frowned and said skeptically, "You remember the exact time."

"I was in a meeting and the text came in on my personal cell phone."

Gibbs had a thought. "Is that the same phone you just answered?"

"No."

"May I have that number too?"

"No."

Gibbs wasn't blind to O'Neill refusing. But without a warrant...

Okay. The time?

"You remember 1221?"

O'Neill responded with just a hint of annoyance. "I looked at the display. It was a palindrome."

Gibbs was sure he knew what a palindrome was so why couldn't he put it together?

O'Neill added, "Like star rats, 2002 and evil olive."

SMACK. Words, verses, sentences and numbers that read the same forward and backward. "Yeah, I got it."

"Who called to tell you about your friend, General?"

"Elizabeth Wheeler sent me a text message."

Telling the truth. DiNozzo and David hadn't said if they had asked to look at the lance corporal's phone. He would ask them when he returned to the squad room.

"What did the text message say?"

Gibbs couldn't understand why he hadn't questioned O'Neill about this before.

"It said Ron had been taken to the hospital."

Gibbs knew there was more to it than that.

"You received a phone call too?"

"Yes, but you already know that. I got the text first and the voicemail when I was in the car."

"What did the voicemail say?"

O'Neill sounded frustrated. "Same thing the text did."

Gibbs wasn't sure how he knew, but O'Neill was walking or maybe pacing as he talked. It was very chilly and Gibbs' backside was cold sitting on a frozen bench so he decided to get up and at least stand if not walk around too.

"Where was she when she called?"

"On her way to the hospital."

There had been no hesitation at all. O'Neill was forthcoming. Gibbs just needed to ask the right questions in the right way. "What did you do after she called?"

O'Neill chuckled lightly. "I get the feeling you already know all the answers. I left the meeting and went to GW."

"Who was your meeting with?"

Silence. Gibbs would swear he heard wheels turning in O'Neill's head.

Finally. "I can't tell you that."

Gibbs knew there was something. "Where was the meeting?"

"I can't tell you that either."

Gibbs took a chance. "I'd like to see the text message and listen to the voice message."

Long pause. "I'll get them to you ___after_ I ask Mrs. Wheeler. I won't share private messages without permission." A mirthless laugh. "Oh, wait a minute. Don't tell me you already got a warrant and you're testing me."

"No warrant for phones yet."

Longer pause. He knew O'Neill was thinking about what warrants NCIS had already secured. "I will ask her."

Gibbs heard someone else in the background of the call, but couldn't make out what they were saying. "Where are you, General?"

O'Neill replied sarcastically, "I'm hanging around Washington. Where are you?"

Gibbs smiled. "The same."

O'Neill asked impatiently, "What else do you want to know?"

"Who else was at the meeting?"

"Ask about something else, Special Agent Gibbs."

"You saw General Wheeler the morning before he died. What time was that?"

"About 0830."

"You didn't see him between 0830 and when you got to the hospital?"

"No."

"Can anyone verify that?"

"Yes, Special Agent Gibbs, there are folks who can verify that. Gotta go."

"Gen.."

Gibbs stared at his phone.

Aboard the USS George Hammond -

O'Neill leaned against the bulkhead, glad he'd ended the call. The cell phone had worked the way the scientists promised it would. The reception had been great. Jacobs said Gibbs would call and he'd been right. Trying to understand Gibbs' motivation, O'Neill thought about Wheeler's death. Why was it taking so long for NCIS to determine the death was from natural causes? The initial blood tests should have been clean, the man certainly didn't use drugs and rarely drank alcohol and wouldn't have had anything at all since the weekend. He knew they must be running more tests and he needed to find out why. Heart attack, stroke, aneurysm, all would have been easily detected and confirmed at autopsy.

He knew why someone would want to delay the release of the test results. They needed to keep the investigation going. O'Neill and Jacobs knew who. It had to be Jarvis or Vance. Gibbs got the case from them and he got his orders from them. The question they didn't have an answer to was who was holding back the test results? The only conclusion was that it was a NCIS forensic scientist which meant it wasn't just someone snooping and trying to find out things they shouldn't. It was a conspiracy.

As for the questions Gibbs had asked, he knew it was a test. Gibbs wanted to confirm his alibi. He had needed one all along, but after the phone call there was no doubt at all. And if he needed an alibi, then Elizabeth and maybe several others did too. Alibi for what was the question? NCIS didn't have a cause of death yet. He needed to talk to Jacobs and made a mental note to do it as soon as he got a chance. For now, there was something more important.

The short trip would take only a few minutes to get the ship into position above Cheyenne Mountain. Eight enlisted and five officers, plus O'Neill and Davis, were making the trip to Stargate Command in addition to the five enlisted and two officers who had already been picked up from Area 51. Many hadn't been to Colorado Springs in a long time and most had never been on The Hammond.

The official memorial service and funeral would happen as soon as NCIS released Wheeler's body. The ceremony this morning was for Stargate Program people who wanted to attend whether they knew the General well or not. The program had always taken care of its own and today would be no different. Landry had reported that two SG Teams made it back on time so nobody was off world and potentially left out. The memorial service and reception would last two or three hours with food and drink provided. No alcohol, but the people weren't attending to get plastered or lose themselves. They were part of a close-knit community and just gathering together to share stories and memories was all any of them wanted or expected.

O'Neill and Landry decided on Saturday for the memorial because they wouldn't have to worry about anyone noticing so many of them not being at work at the same time. It was amazing what Pentagon security officers and security check point guards noticed. And it was easier to get everyone to a planned rendezvous away from The Pentagon or other building with video surveillance and/or requiring sign in. This morning it had been a long-term parking garage where the security cameras were disabled and the people climbed into the back of a big panel truck. They were inventive if nothing else.

Davis heard O'Neill's side of the exchange and scrutinized the man. He looked tired even though it was only about 1030 and he also looked concerned. He could see the General was deep in thought so he waited almost a minute before speaking to him. "Sir?"

General O'Neill, aware of Colonel Davis watching him, picked up on the concern and knew he needed to nip it in the bud right away. He waved his hand to dismiss the close attention and pushed a button to contact the bridge. "Commander, we're ready to leave now."

"C'mon, Colonel Davis," Jack O'Neill told the younger man as he started back to where the others were waiting. "Let's go honor General Wheeler."

NCIS~SG~NCIS

Gibbs was feeling chilled, but not cold. He enjoyed most Spring mornings even early in the season. The air was crisp, but the sky was clear and the sun bright. He walked along noticing tiny footprints from birds, squirrels and mice dotting the leftover snow along the sidewalk. His mind went back to the conversation with O'Neill. It had cleared up a couple of things, but the doubt he'd been feeling was starting to crush him.

He returned to the bull pen to see what everyone had found out, only to head out less than an hour later. They were all still focused on an affair and getting nowhere so he sent them home, hoping they wouldn't be called out before Monday at 0630.

As he pulled into his driveway, he remembered that he should have asked McGee about O'Neill's phone.

tbc

* * *

Thanks for reading.


	15. Chapter 15

Monday at 0632 -

Abby almost shrieked with glee. Almost. She and McGee had found something, lots of something, and she knew it might be enough to keep Gibbs occupied, at least for a bit. On Friday she had gone to Ducky to get some more blood and tissue samples, telling him that major Mass Spec was acting wonky and she needed to make sure the machine was functioning properly. Ducky and Jimmy had both been happy to help her out and she didn't think they suspected anything.

Now, waiting for the phone call to connect, she tried not to think about keeping things from Gibbs and Ducky and all the others.

"Gibbs, Gibbs, McGee and I found pictures of O'Neill that will tell you something about him."

He was thinking about the conversations with O'Neill and Ellison when his phone beeped and it took a couple of seconds for his brain to change gears.

"Yeah, Abbs. I'll be right there."

He hadn't seen their cars in the lot, but he'd been in for more than 30 minutes so they probably got there after him. Tony and Ziva hadn't wandered in yet. In the elevator Gibbs thought about the phone call with O'Neill.

He entered the lab to blaring music and both Abby and McGee were singing along. He turned off the sound and the two immediately turned around.

"Gibbs, Gibbs," Abby rushed ahead in her usual frenzied way. "We worked a long time yesterday and..."

Yesterday was Sunday. Gibbs glanced from excited Abby to guilty looking McGee. "Yesterday?"

"Uh, yes, boss," McGee admitted. "Abby came over and we used my computer at home to search."

"We know how important it is, Gibbs."

Lots of things were important. He should be happy that they were so dedicated, so why was he wary?

"What about the lab work, Abby?"

"Uh, well, I had a problem with my baby," and she pointed toward the Mass Spectrometer. "I got more samples from Ducky."

The doubt about everything was really heavy now. "How soon?"

"I don't know." She looked at the machine before answering. "Maybe... tomorrow."

Gibbs knew Abby was hiding something. Was it something to do with McGee? He didn't care what they did on their own time. Okay, he cared, but he didn't care enough to think about it or heaven forbid worry about it. Tim was a good man. They were both adults. He needed to get his brain back on the case. The case? What case? The man had died over five days ago and they didn't know if it was something besides natural causes.

"Get the lab work finished, Abby."

"I will," she promised.

Gibbs wasn't convinced, but she and McGee apparently had something else.

He remembered and pulled out the blue mini index card.

"McGee, talk to me about this phone number."

"But Gibbs, what we found is..."

"I know, Abby." He gave her one of his looks. "McGee?"

The soft-spoken man entered the information into the computer. Beep, beep. Click.

"The number is not registered to any known cell phone."

"It's O'Neill's number. I talked to him on Saturday."

McGee and Abby looked surprised, but didn't say anything.

"Tell me something about it, McGee."

Many seconds later, McGee had gotten nowhere. "It has weird encryption."

"Weird, McGee?"

"Different than anything I've ever seen. Where were you when you spoke to him and did he call you or did you call him?"

"I was just around the corner," he told McGee. "Off the grass sitting on a bench. I called him."

Abby moved to stand next to Tim at the other computer as Gibbs told him the approximate time of the call.

"Boss, it's like the signal went to the first cell tower and then disappeared."

"Disappeared where?"

Abby thought she knew. "It's the encryption."

McGee agreed, but disagreed. "Yes, the encryption keeps us from being able to trace O'Neill's phone, but what about Gibbs' phone?"

"You're right, you should be able to isolate that signal. It should have gone to another cell tower, but it didn't."

McGee felt like he was about to ask a stupid question, but it had to be done. "I don't suppose you know where he was when you called him?"

Gibbs thought for a second. It had been a carefree answer to his question. "He said he was hanging around Washington."

"Hmm. Hanging around where? He'd have to be close by and using the same call tower."

"That's why it only went to one," Abby announced.

A few seconds later they still weren't getting anywhere.

Gibbs had a thought. "What if I call him again?"

McGee liked the idea. "It should give us more than we have now."

"Okay, later. Why did you call me?"

"Oh oh," Abby exclaimed, her excitement back. "We used that picture of Airman O'Neill from the newspaper, the one where he graduated from basic military training and we used a program to age him to what he would have looked like in 81, 91 and 2001."

McGee looked pleased with Abby's excitement and continued with the next part of the explanation. "The computer scanned all the photos and I wrote a program that scanned other media too, and we also went to the wayback machine." He saw that Gibbs didn't care and was not as patient so he said, "Boss, we got a few hits and now we know more."

Abby interrupted. "Gibbs, the pictures may help discover things about O'Neill and Wheeler and maybe Colorado Springs."

Gibbs was interested, but wasn't going to wait forever. His look to the two said it all.

Abby knew the look and prodded, "McGee, show him."

McGee smiled. "Okay, boss." His hands flew over the keyboard. "We have O'Neill sightings."

"This picture was taken in August 1998. It's a photo of Colonel O'Neill after he witnessed a hit-and-run accident outside the US Air Force Administration Building right here in Washington, DC." McGee saw Gibbs being surprisingly patient. "We don't know why he was there... yet."

"But we will," Abby added. "Now look at the next one. Take it away, McGee."

"Years ago, a dangerous mental patient escaped from a psychiatric facility in Oregon. A citizens watch group was outraged and someone broke into the office and got a bunch of the security videos and posted them on the internet. They wanted to expose the lack of security." McGee waited a few seconds for that information to sink in. "The Oregon Attorney General and the DOJ forced youtube and other outlets to remove the videos, but..."

Abby was almost bouncing and interrupted again. "Look at this, Gibbs. It's proof that nothing from the internet is ever really gone."

McGee played a clip from the black and white footage. Jack O'Neill, wearing a leather jacket, entered the place through what looked like a front door with two other people. The blond woman was tall and slim and the black man was not only tall, but well-built and muscled. McGee played the next clip. Three people had gone in, but four people came out of the facility. The fourth was a doddering older man with wild hair and Gibbs watched as O'Neill helped him safely down the steps and out to a car.

"That older man was Nicholas Ballard. He was a world-famous archaeologist who discovered a crystal skull on a dig in Belize." McGee seemed pleased with the trivia. "The skull is displayed in the Smithsonian." The younger man grinned. "It's amazing."

Abby took the baton. "We think he was a patient in that facility, Gibbs, in March of 2000, and they got him out. He's never been seen again."

Why would they spring a guy from a mental institution? "License plate on the car?"

"Sorry, Gibbs. The original recording was VHS and the quality is just too poor."

Gibbs didn't know what to think or say. Maybe the guy was in a different psychiatric facility or had died. He didn't know and wasn't sure if he cared, but the two had found some interesting things and surprisingly, he was in a pretty decent mood. "I don't know what this information has to do with General Wheeler, but... what else you got?"

Abby and McGee were thrilled with Gibbs' response to their work. He was actually paying attention and seemed interested.

A different photo appeared on the screen.

tbc

* * *

Thanks for reading.

I don't know anything about cell phones or cell phone towers or signals etc. Sorry if what I wrote is totally out there.


	16. Chapter 16

**A different photo appeared on the screen.**

An ambulance with the back doors open was in the frame. "The guy on the stretcher is O'Neill, boss."

Abby zoomed in on the people inside and outside the ambulance. "The woman sitting there on the tailgate in the scrubs getting her blood pressure checked is the same woman who was with O'Neill and the dark skinned guy at the psychiatric hospital."

Gibbs tried to process her run-on sentence while he looked at the photo. Sure enough, there was O'Neill with a bulky dressing on his upper arm and shoulder, held in place by several wraps from a wide elastic bandage. Another wrap held his right arm against his chest as he reclined on the stretcher with his head and shoulders slightly elevated. The woman did look like the one from the previous photo.

Abby changed the photo to the next one. O'Neill had an oxygen mask on his face and IV in his hand and the woman was wrapped up in blankets.

"The photos were snapped by the Seattle Police Department. Some kind of operation took place at St. Christina's Hospital."

McGee continued with, "The hospital had been closed and deserted for some time, but something happened there."

The photo changed again and Gibbs saw the other man from the psychiatric hospital footage.

"I called and spoke to Assistant Chief Chris Alexander who said he was involved in what happened that day. He wouldn't tell me anything except to say that the woman had been drugged and kind of beat up, and the man shot twice. He heard later that the woman was fine, but the man was hospitalized for surgery and they needed to monitor him for several days because of an irregular heartbeat. The bullet didn't go through his vest, but he was shot point-blank, less than six feet away, and it messed up the normal rhythm of his heart. Alexander cited national security as the reason he couldn't say more. Said the people who debriefed him and his team were scary."

Abby added, "One bullet damaged the deltoid muscle and nicked his humerus."

"Uh, that's the big muscle at the top of the arm that wraps over the shoulder and the humerus is the bone from shoulder to elbow."

Gibbs glared at McGee because he didn't need an anatomy lecture. Sometimes his team irritated the spit out of him. They never gave him much credit for knowing things and he knew a lot of things. Chief Alexander had said quite a lot. Maybe since it happened over 12 years ago, the officer didn't think national security applied all that much anymore. He thought about being shot point-blank like that. Even when the vest stopped the round, it hurt something terrible. Huge deep bruise, sore, stiff, short of breath, probably cracked a rib. Add to that irregular heartbeat and yeah, they'd want to keep him for a day just for that. Then add in a bullet wound that at the least needed cleaning out and loss of blood and oh yeah, O'Neill would have been in the hospital for a couple of days.

What were O'Neill and the others doing in Seattle that would get him shot and her drugged? National security? His gut churned, but he looked toward Abby and McGee and saw they were ready to move on so he gave them a small nod.

Abby spoke first while McGee changed the display on the big screen. "This is Colonel Jack O'Neill in 2001 attending the retirement of the Peterson Air Force Base Commander. That's in Colorado Springs."

Gibbs looked at her like she was crazy and she was if she thought he didn't know that.

She quickly added, "We have identified a couple of other people in the photo."

McGee took his turn. "From the left we have General Michael Ryan, then Air Force Chief of Staff, Donald Elmsfeld, then Secretary of Defense and General James Jackson, then Commandant of the Marine Corps. The bald man on their right is Major General George S. Hammond. He died in 2008 and someone named..."

Abby supplied, "Gopher tiger."

McGee jumped back in. "Gopher tiger, posted pictures on their personal webpage."

Abby squealed, "These are the best ones, Gibbs. We didn't show them to you first because, well, because we didn't."

Two wide shots showed President Henry Hayes and Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill. They looked like good friends and in the background Gibbs could see some of the vehicles in the presidential motorcade. A third photo captured President Hayes and O'Neill with Brigadier General Wheeler and a fourth man, General Francis Maynard, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs at the time.

"Where was this?"

"Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery," Abby chimed in first.

McGee added, "We went back and searched for information on the President's schedule for that day. They usually release all that to the press ahead of time, but that day in a four hour window, all it said was private event. Before that time he was at a pancake breakfast with Civil Air Patrol Cadets in San Antonio. And in the time after the private event slot he was at the Governor's Gala."

Abby finished with, "It was a one day trip from Washington, DC to San Antonio, Texas. They flew there really early and came back very late... or very early."

McGee smiled at Abby and volunteered, "We called the cemetery, they're open everyday, and talked to Bill. He was there that day in 2008."

"Gibbs, he said there were almost 150 service members and lots of civilians too."

Could Abby be more excited about a funeral? Gibbs couldn't believe they had called the cemetery.

McGee wasn't finished. "According to Bill, General George Hammond died on Monday morning. By noon that same day, Veteran's Affairs knew the President would be there for the funeral on Saturday at 12 o'clock.

Abby crowed, "Billy said General Jack was one of the nicest guys he had ever met."

McGee figured out that Gibbs had heard enough and he changed the display. Gibbs recognized the man right away in the photo on the left. It was Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill presenting a folded flag to a beautiful woman in her early forties. She was sitting with two pretty girls who looked to be in their late teens. The picture on the right was a shot of the headstone with fresh flowers and dated four months later. Hammond had been a lieutenant general with some impressive medals and was buried with his wife who had died before him. Gibbs noticed that Hammond was ten years older than O'Neill and died just before his 66th birthday.

The next few photos were wide-angle shots that showed the military contingent. Abby pointed out some of the men in the photos, but Gibbs already recognized a few. He counted the last four Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs, the last five Air Force Chiefs of Staff and three Marine Corps Commandants and then he saw his friend, General Chuck Ellison.

Many of the service members in the photos looked stoic, controlling their emotions. It was clear to Gibbs that Hammond had been not only respected, but very well liked. Most of those in uniform were Air Force, but there were many Marines. There were lots of enlisted in addition to officers and he noticed they were standing talking to each other in close-knit groups. These were candid photos, not posed. The last photo was O'Neill with the two girls. One was hugging him, the other comfortable against his side with his arm around her. It was obvious to Gibbs that O'Neill was close to the girls.

Gibbs tried to process what he'd learned. It was actually mind-boggling and he couldn't help but think about the veiled warning Chuck Ellison had given him.

"Guess where General Hammond was living when he died?"

Gibbs knew the answer. "Colorado Springs."

McGee was about to correct him, but Abby beat him.

"Close enough," she announced. The man hadn't lived in the city, he'd lived in the county. But who cared when it was close enough to the Springs?

McGee went on to the next thing. "The news accounts of that day after the funeral just said the President had attended a funeral for a retired Lieutenant General who had served as special advisor to the White House."

"Get me copies of some of these."

Gibbs told Abby which photos he wanted and reminded her to get the lab work finished. He told McGee he'd let him know when he was going to call O'Neill so he could get a fix and with a "Good work you two," he left to go back upstairs.

tbc

* * *

Thanks for reading.

I used phony names for SecDef and the Commandant because they weren't ever mentioned on the show by their real names and they were never on the show as a guest. Not like General Ryan.


	17. Chapter 17

Jacobs disconnected the call and readied for the firestorm. General Hoover, Air Force JAG, had called to say that Navy JAG, Vice Admiral Debolt, would talk to SecNav Jarvis and try to find out what was going on. He was her boss so she needed to step lightly. She knew about the Stargate Program and Jarvis didn't, and he wouldn't, especially not now. And if she had her way, not ever.

He grabbed his mug, opened the door to his office and headed for the coffee station. Barely 0730 and he'd already had three cups of coffee. It was that kind of morning. He needed some more caffeine and maybe a donut before he called General O'Neill.

NCIS~SG~NCIS

Gibbs came out of the elevator to find Tony and Ziva trading barbs. It wasn't until he heard, "We should have put a tracker on the car," that he had an inkling about what might be going on. He hoped he was wrong.

"Tracker for whose car?"

Surprised by his sudden appearance, Tony side-stepped. "Nobody's car, boss."

"Uh huh," he said. His brain added I don't believe you.

Ziva was quick to support Tony. "It is nothing, Gibbs."

He would let it go for the moment, but only the moment.

"What have you found out about Wheeler, O'Neill and Colorado Springs?"

"Not a whole lot, but we're still working on it."

"Did you find out anything about Kawalski or Ferretti?"

Tony looked panicked for a second before blurting, "Just saw your note a minute ago, boss."

Gibbs let it go. He mentally recalled his check list.

"Do you have a local address for O'Neill?"

Gibbs saw the same look on both their faces before they looked at each other.

"No Gibbs," Ziva said evenly.

Tony quickly suggested, "McGee may have more luck." He looked at the empty desk. "Where is McGee?"

Gibbs announced, "He's downstairs with Abby. Has been since before 0630."

Tony started in. "Of course he has. Always has to be teacher's pet."

"DiNozzo."

"Yes, boss. Sorry, boss."

All of a sudden Gibbs had a feeling of dread. Another feeling of dread. Tony and Ziva were both acting strange and the looks on their faces and the ones they were giving each other was too much.

"DiNozzo, Ziva, come here."

The two agents, looking sheepish and regretful, walked very slowly to stand in front of him.

"Whose car and why?"

When they finally confessed, it all came out like a tidal wave. They had staked out Elizabeth Wheeler's house and documented who went in and out and the time, along with photos.

Feeling the need to justify what they had done and why, Tony popped the camera memory card into the computer and put the pictures on the plasma.

Gibbs stood in shock. Okay, more surprise than shock. It wasn't only what they had done, but who had gone to the house.

NCIS~SG~NCIS

Jack O'Neill stood looking out the window of his office. He'd had a stressful week and full weekend and wanted nothing more than an ordinary Pentagon Monday. The SGC memorial for General Wheeler had gone as planned. His conversation with Jacobs on Saturday was okay too. NCIS had secured warrants for Ron and Elizabeth's finances, their kids also. A warrant for his records had been withdrawn. So far no warrants for phone records, but Jacobs reminded him that computer guys could easily get them, including text messages. Something about cloud memory that Jack didn't care about. NCIS tried to get service records, the versions not scrubbed, for Wheeler, O'Neill and Fraiser. Jack was still floored by that revelation. He told Jacobs about his second conversation with Gibbs and Jacobs insisted that someone from JAG be there on Tuesday when NCIS came back to the Pentagon to question people. Jack had told him he hoped the investigation would be over by then.

Sunday afternoon Jack went to Arlington to visit Elizabeth. She wanted to plan Ron's funeral and he went to explain why she couldn't confirm everything yet. Oh, some yes man from Veteran's Affairs or somewhere had told her why, but he wanted to tell her and he wanted to see her. They had talked on the phone, but he hadn't seen her since Tuesday evening. Turned out she had a plan to try to get Ron's body away from NCIS. Who was he to argue?

When they left the neighborhood the driver noticed the tail car. Jack had him change direction and head anywhere else because if they didn't already know where he lived, he wasn't going to help them figure it out. He practically seethed because them picking him up at Elizabeth's meant they were staking out her house, and her. Number one was protecting the Stargate Program. He wanted to say it was protecting Elizabeth, but that wasn't the truth. She knew Ron had been involved in secret projects and she accepted it. Until they actually took her in for questioning or charged her with something, he'd stay out of it. NCIS had not been back to her house and they had not called, like Gibbs had called him.

While his driver took them around Arlington, Jack called Jacobs to tell him about the tail. Jacobs was livid, wanted the license plate number and description of the car and driver. He couldn't contact Vance or SecNav, not when they thought the two of them were in on it so he said he'd get in touch with General Hoover who would contact The Navy JAG. The Air Force Judge Advocate General would not be a happy camper, but Jacobs said it had gone on far too long and it was time to end it.

Jack was a problem solver, but this mess was a bigger problem than he could deal with. Oh sure, he could shoot them or have someone else do it, or he could transport them up to The Hammond and take them somewhere where they couldn't cause anymore trouble, but those weren't options. And like Jacobs had said, they needed to put a stop to it in a way that would discourage them from attempting to do it again. At least for a while.

The problem, okay one of the problems, but it was a biggie, was the best way to go around SecNav and Vance. Their fingerprints were all over the investigation that shouldn't have been a MCRT investigation at all. Jack was glad he could let Jacobs deal with that. He told him about Elizabeth and her plan to push for the release of Ron's body and Jacobs had laughed and said it might work.

Jack smiled when he thought about losing the tail. Sergeant Brown took them into the parking structure for the Pentagon Mall at the 15th Street entrance. The tail car followed them in, followed them up and followed them down. At the toll booth there was a car between them because Brown had been able to get just past a car pulling out of a space. Jack's driver gave the girl two $1 bills for the parking ticket and two $10 bills to stall. She could keep it all or share with the driver who was going to have to wait. Jack expected the NCIS agents to flash their badges and go through with the car ahead of them. Things like that just ticked him off. By the time she'd lifted the gate, Sergeant Brown had easily moved through traffic and they were safely away.

Oh sure, he could have called his personal security guys. He'd begged off the protective detail claiming nobody would know to get him visiting Mrs. Wheeler, but the truth was they were probably in the area and available, just in case. He and the Sergeant could have parked, gone into the mall and one of them double back to take out a tire. Jack knew he would have gotten billed for it if that had happened.

Jack got home without a NCIS tail to report where he lived and go through his garbage so life was good.

He reached for his cup of coffee and waited for the phone to ring.

tbc

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Thanks for reading.


	18. Chapter 18

**Gibbs stood in shock. Okay, more surprise than shock. It wasn't only what they had done, but who had gone to the house.**

Chuck Ellison. On Saturday afternoon, after Gibbs had talked to him in the morning, the General was at the Wheeler home for almost an hour with the Chaplain of the Marine Corps. The General had said he and Wheeler had talked every once in a while. Seemed to Gibbs that they were better acquainted than that.

On Sunday morning Mrs. Wheeler, son Marcus and his very pregnant wife, had gone to church. In the afternoon, Jack O'Neill showed up. When he left, Tony and Ziva tailed him. Gibbs thought it was funny he'd given them the slip. If they only knew what he knew about O'Neill's background, they'd consider themselves lucky that they still had four round tires on the car and their lives.

He chastised them for getting caught and for doing it in the first place, though that part was an afterthought. Just when he was thinking about going for another coffee, one was delivered to him. With a look and slight head tilt, Tobias Fornell got him into the elevator.

As soon as the door slid closed, "You've really done it this time, Jethro."

Gibbs flipped the switch and tried to look like he didn't know what his friend was talking about, but it didn't work.

"John J. O'Neill. You had to ask me about him?"

"Well, yeah, Tobias. He is one of the ones I need to know about."

The two men stood silently looking at each other. Both were stubborn. Both were committed.

"Go get your coat," the FBI agent snapped. "People are going to need the elevator."

Gibbs relented and flipped the switch. Since they hadn't pressed a button for a different floor, the door opened immediately.

A minute later they took the elevator down and then went outside into the chilly winter air. Thick clouds had moved in, blocking the sun. Both men glanced up at the bleak sky before walking slowly along the sidewalk.

After a few seconds, Fornell asked, "Why are you looking at O'Neill? He's Air Force."

Gibbs spun the truth a little. "General Wheeler was a Marine and he's dead. O'Neill was not only a friend, but is close to the wife."

"Somebody murdered a General? I haven't heard about that. What happened?"

Gibbs hesitated then decided that if Fornell ever learned the truth, he'd understand.

"Wheeler collapsed and died. We don't have a cause of death yet, but."

Fornell interjected, "You don't have a murder." He knew his friend. This was bad.

Gibbs admitted, "It could be a murder. We don't know for sure yet."

Tobias stopped walking and turned on Gibbs.

"Jethro, you can't go digging into O'Neill."

The FBI guy wasn't intimidated by the glare. He gave one right back.

"You have to stop what you're doing. At least wait until you for sure have a murder." He didn't know it was already too late.

Gibbs wasn't buying it. He should have been, but he needed more.

"O'Neill is more than a person of interest. He's almost a suspect."

"Almost? Unless you have a murder, you don't have suspects." Fornell had to save his friend from himself. "You have to stop, Jethro."

"What do you know about him?"

Gibbs thought he saw something in Fornell's face.

"Give me something."

Fornell had been spanked by his Director already that morning. Was his friendship with Gibbs worth another round? Or worse?

"I don't know much." He looked around warily, checking to see if anyone was close enough to them to overhear anything and he lowered his voice. "There wasn't much to see." He hadn't seen anything, but not wanting to admit that, he repeated what his director had told him. "He's a hero, Gibbs. Not just once or twice, but multiple times. He's the real deal."

Gibbs looked at his friend, trying to decide what was truth and what was exaggeration. "I can't get his service record. Can you get his jacket?"

"No."

"Why not? You obviously already saw something."

Fornell looked around again. "Gibbs, the man's service is so far up in thin air that few people know anything about him at all."

"I know that, Tobias," Gibbs hissed. "Tell me something else."

A small admission. "I know a few tricks."

The NCIS special agent nodded and waited.

Fornell learned a long time ago that sometimes you needed to look at a situation from a different vantage. "He's on the list."

Gibbs looked confused. "What list?"

Fornell spun around, checking 360 degrees to make sure.

He whispered, "The list of people who have to be saved and protected if we're attacked or invaded."

"Invaded?"

"Yeah, I just said that." He gave Gibbs a small smile. Still wondering if he should reveal it, Fornell told him, "He's ahead of the VP on the list, Gibbs."

The list? Gibbs thought about what his friend had just said. The list. What list? List, list. The President was first, obviously. Okay, VP would be second. That list. Speaker of the House next. Then President pro tem of the Senate. All were government officials. At least one, preferably the President, would be needed to keep the country running and reassure the people. One less thing for the public to have to worry about. So why O'Neill?

"He's not in the political line of succession."

"No, he's not," Tobias hissed. "But he's considered more important than everyone except the President."

"Everyone?" Surely the highest military leaders would come before him. "What about the Joint Chiefs and nine unified combatant commanders?"

Fornell was dead serious. "More important."

Wow. Gibbs almost said it out loud. How was it possible? Lose a general and there's another one to take his place.

Finally he asked, "Why?"

Fornell shook his head. "I do not know."

"Find out."

With a hard look the FBI guy bit out, "No way, Gibbs. I already heard it from my Director."

Gibbs knew what it had to be. "It's that special project, isn't it? The secret one in Colorado."

"I don't know anything about a secret project. I do know that I've been officially reprimanded."

Gibbs stared at Tobias. His friend had gotten in trouble helping him. He knew he should stop. He knew it. Why couldn't he? Too many questions still unanswered, but not all questions got answers. He knew that too.

"I got a refresher on national security. I'll probably get another one."

Yeah, they both knew a lot of things resided under that umbrella.

Fornell played the parent card, like thrusting a knife in Gibbs' heart. "Emily is young, Jethro. I'm not paying alimony anymore, but I have child support. I need my job."

Gibbs wiped his face with his palm, pausing for the longest on his chin.

The knife twisted. "I don't want my daughter visiting me in prison."

NCIS~SG~NCIS

Jacobs called. SecAF called. The President called.

SecDef Hingle visited. Jack was surprised because he usually walked over to the man's office. He wanted to talk about Jack's security detail. Jack knew he had a few people who rotated, depending on the day and time. He hadn't known they never went away. On Saturday they were right with him. Two cars, four fully armed people, ready to take out the NCIS car and people at any time. They knew he was being watched and then followed. Their job was to protect him and report about it later. Which they did.

Jack wanted to know how close to his residence they would have been allowed to get and SecDef assured him not close. He hated being treated as special. For some reason, unknown to him, the current President considered him vital to national security. He really was looking forward to retirement. If they ever let him retire. Oh, who was he kidding? He liked his job. Not the political part of it, but the Stargate part. He liked the people, he even liked many of the aliens.

Hingle also wanted to talk about the Wheeler investigation. They discussed it for a while and then the man went back to his office. Jack looked at his watch just as the phone rang.

"O'Neill."

"Sir, I need to tell you about a call we got that came through channels."

The Military Advisor to the Department of Homeland Security explained what the phone call was about as Jack rubbed and then ground the heel of his hand above first one eyebrow and then the other. A huge headache was looming and he needed to take something for it soon.

"I appreciate you telling me. How many know about it?"

The Rear Admiral didn't hold back. "Not many, but the ones who do have been shut down."

Jack thought about what that meant since even the Secretary of Homeland Security didn't know everything about the Stargate Program.

"They did their jobs and the information moved along. They are all working on other things now."

"That's good. I need you to send the encrypted call record report to SecAF and SecDef."

Hesitation. "Sure, General, I can do that. Can you tell me why?"

"Not today. Sorry."

Something was going on. "Okay, sir, I understand. I'll make sure it gets sent over right away."

NCIS~SG~NCIS

Director Leon Vance listened to Gibbs tell him about the weekend. He didn't know that Gibbs held back what he'd learned from Tobias. As he sat thinking, he couldn't help wondering when SecNav would call. He half expected the phone to ring right that second.

"DiNozzo and David should not have followed O'Neill."

"I know."

"Does he know it was NCIS?"

Gibbs didn't even try to hide his amusement at that question. Vance kind of grimaced because he knew O'Neill had to have at least suspected.

"McGee and Sciuto actually called the cemetery and the Seattle PD?"

"Yep."

Vance looked at Gibbs, wondering not for the first time why they were keeping the investigation going. "Why don't we have a cause of death yet?"

"Abby says her machine acted up. She got more samples from Ducky."

Vance looked at the senior MCRT team leader with narrowed eyes. "You don't believe her."

Gibbs looked everywhere else until finally looking back at Vance. A little reluctantly he admitted, "No, I don't."

"Why would she conceal test results?"

With a shake of his head, Gibbs said, "She wouldn't." Then he looked thoughtful. "Unless, someone ordered her to."

"Jarvis," Vance guessed, but knew in his gut he was right.

"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too."

Vance made a decision. "Get her up here."

Gibbs clenched his jaw. "If he ordered her to keep quiet, she can't tell us."

The Director stood up and started pacing the room. After a few seconds he asked, "What do you want to do?"

"Get her to talk to me without violating whatever instructions he gave her."

tbc

* * *

Thanks for reading.

I can't remember if I've given SecDef a name before now. I've tried to go back and look and will again. Sorry if I messed up.


	19. Chapter 19

Gibbs would have talked to Abby if they hadn't been called into the field. The rest of the day and most of the evening was crime scene photos and sketches, gathering evidence and talking to witnesses, family members, friends and potential suspects. By 1915 everyone was beat and going home the only thing on their minds.

The next morning at 0615, Gibbs walked from his truck to the building. He'd had a tiring evening that ended with a phone call telling him about the meeting at the Pentagon. He was already planning on 1100 to question Wheeler's coworkers, but when he mentioned that, Vance told him 0800 in room 9999 and then hung up. No explanation at all about the time and room change and for just a second Gibbs considered whether O'Neill was behind it. It didn't matter. The team would be along by 0730 at the latest and then he'd take one of them with him to the meeting.

He entered the building and strolled to the security checkpoint, already reaching for his pocket items that needed to go through separately.

"I can't let you go through, Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs dropped the items into the bin and reached to remove his weapon.

"Agent Gibbs, I'm not allowed to let you into the building. I have orders."

What? Had he heard the man right? "Orders?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes, orders." The guard looked apologetic, but didn't waver. And his position to block Gibbs from trying to walk through the metal detector was enhanced by another NCIS security guard who came over from his place at the door.

He tried to act nonchalant about everything. "What's going on, guys?"

"Don't know. Just orders to keep you from entering the building until further notice."

Gibbs almost snorted before getting into the guard's personal space. "Who gave you that order?"

Simple answer. "Director Vance."

The man's breath smelled like peppermint and Gibbs glared into his steady brown eyes.

Finally, barely controlling his emotion, he softly growled, "When did you receive the order to bar me?"

"The order was posted last night at 2130."

Gibbs was angry and confused. "I asked, when did you receive it?"

The guard wasn't backing down. "0550 when I checked in."

The second man didn't interfere with Gibbs and the guard, but he picked up the bin.

Gibbs didn't know what was going on, but he intended to find out. He stepped away from peppermint breath and snatched his phone from the white plastic container. The outside door opened and two agents came in, their coat collars pulled up around their necks and ears in an effort to keep warm. Gibbs jerked the bin from the man's hand and stepped to the side to let them go through.

With his keys and wallet back where they belong, Gibbs speed dialed Vance's number. It rang and rang until voice messaging kicked in and Gibbs left a two-word curt message. "Call me," was all he said before ending the call.

He'd only walked a few yards from the door when he saw her. Abby was scurrying along, a thick scarf wrapped around her head mostly covering her face.

Her muffled greeting sounded like, "Hey, Gibbs," but he couldn't be sure.

"What are you doing here, Abby?"

She pulled the scarf away from her mouth and replied meekly, "Going to work."

Standing in front of her he said, "No, you're not," and took her arm to lead her back the way she had come. She went willingly, but not silently.

"Gibbs? Where are we going?"

"Someplace warmer," he mumbled.

She snuggled against his arm as he walked beside her and asked, "What about work?"

With Abby following in her own car, Gibbs drove to Bob and Edith's Diner. It was open 24 hours and had pretty decent scrapple and excellent coffee. Also it was close enough to the Pentagon that he could sit and talk for a bit and not have to be in traffic long to get to the meeting on time. He and Fornell had eaten there a few times, usually getting the chicken fried steak with double mashed potatoes.

Gibbs hadn't asked Abby about the lab work. Right then all he could think about was being locked out of the building and the mysterious meeting. Abby didn't know about the meeting and he wondered if the others did. Ziva, Tim and Tony wandered in a while later. Abby had called them from her car and they were curious to find out what was going on. Problem was, Gibbs didn't know. Director Vance had not called him back.

Ziva squeezed in the booth with Abby and Gibbs while Tim and Tony took the other side. He encouraged them to order something besides just coffee and then told them about being locked out and questioned the meeting. He didn't think the change had come from O'Neill. In fact, he didn't think it was the same meeting with a location and time change. The others, like Abby, didn't know about the meeting and were horrified to learn that he'd been barred from the building. Could it be he was going to be read in on the secret program? Why would he be locked out of NCIS if that was the case?

"Are we locked out too?"

Gibbs admitted that he didn't know. He should have asked, but he didn't. He watched the four pick at their food, thought they did manage to eat enough. He sat back, trying to relax, but couldn't stop thinking about the conversations with General Ellison and Tobias. He sipped his coffee and wondered why he'd been so relentless to find out about O'Neill and had dragged the team with him. Well, to be honest, they did their own share of digging and going against policy, but he was the team leader so he was responsible.

Suddenly he thought he knew. It was stupid and childish and totally unprofessional, but he didn't like Wheeler working with the Air Force. Oh sure, there were lots of joint operations, but not usually with the Air Force. Marines Corps and Navy for sure and even Marine Corps and Army. But Air Force? And a special project? He thought about the changes since 2012. The Army and Air Force now had MTAC representatives to enhance information sharing and allow access to military personnel and intelligence databases. It was proving to be very useful in their terrorist and fugitive hunts and he vowed to try to have a more open mind about the Marine Corps working with the Air Force.

Insistent beeping startled everyone before Abby, Ziva, Tony and Tim reached for their phones. They all received the same text message. 0840 Pentagon room 9999. His team and Abby were probably locked out too. Why have the meetings at the Pentagon? Why not have them at NCIS? He knew now this had to be about the Wheeler case and whatever was happening wasn't good. Vance not answering his phone and not returning calls was another bad sign.

"Boss?"

Pulled from his thoughts, Gibbs acknowledged the younger man. "Yeah, McGee."

Tim tried not to worry, but he couldn't help it. "Are we gonna be fired?"

tbc

* * *

Thanks for reading.


	20. Chapter 20

**Tim tried not to worry, but he couldn't help it. "Are we gonna be fired?"**

Gibbs set the mug on the table and looked at the younger man. "I don't think so, McGee, but if it happens, you have to know that I'll fight for you." He held McGee's gaze for a couple of seconds before doing the same with the others. "All of you."

It was almost 0725 and Gibbs needed to get going. He was hoping to see Vance before the meeting, whatever the meeting was, and held out hope that he would. He had tried calling him again, but the man didn't answer and didn't call back even after he left a more civil message. Whatever was happening involved the Director, as much or more as it involved him and the rest of the team.

He looked at each of them. "We don't know for sure what this is about."

Tony thought he knew. "Sure we do. It's about a cover-up."

Ziva agreed. "The Air Force wants to silence us."

Gibbs didn't believe that, but from start to finish the investigation had been a screw-up. He and Vance should have stopped it from the beginning.

Tony informed Ziva, "Military guys are a sub-human species. Everybody knows that."

She looked from Tony to Gibbs and back again, glad that she hadn't said it.

"Uh, boss, you know I don't mean marines." Like saying that would make a difference.

Gibbs knew DiNozzo had no respect for the military. It was the one thing he wish he'd picked up on before suggesting the man join NCIS. Oh sure, he remembered the Navy cop comments, but he didn't know it hadn't been a 'friendly' rivalry. Ten years later and DiNozzo's attitude hadn't changed. If anything he'd gotten even more fervent in his beliefs. Nothing Gibbs could do about it. DiNozzo wouldn't change.

It was past time to end the discussion and get going to the mysterious meeting.

"I need to go, but I'll be there for the meeting at 0840."

They still looked nervous, but his words seemed to sink in.

"Abby, I need to talk to you for a minute before I go."

She went with him and after ordering coffee to go, he paid the check for the table. He and Abby stood to the side out of the doorway.

Quietly he inquired, "I need to know about the lab work," and Abby blanched.

"I think you've been ordered to keep secrets." He saw the truth in her eyes. "Nod if I'm right."

She didn't nod. She looked scared.

Gibbs needed to know for sure. He whispered, "Abby, it's okay. I'll keep your secret."

He noticed that she seemed to relax a little so he asked again.

"Have you been ordered to keep secrets about the Wheeler case?"

After her eyes looked everywhere around her, she nodded.

He needed to be sure. "Did Secretary Jarvis give you the order?"

Gibbs could swear Abby's eyes teared up. She'd been struggling for several days and while he felt for her, he wished that she had come to him.

"Did he threaten you?"

She shook her head, but Gibbs could tell there was something there. "C'mon, Abbs, tell me."

"Not physically. He said I'd get fired and he'd make sure the closest I ever got to forensics ever again would be cleaning up crime scenes."

Now there were tears in her eyes and Gibbs drew her into his arms for a hug. Not with bodily harm, but Jarvis had certainly threatened her.

"It's okay, Abbs. Not going to happen." He brought her face up so he could look into her eyes. "Trust me?"

Abby nodded.

"Did you find anything suspicious in General Wheeler's blood and tissue?"

She spoke softly, her voice shaky. "No, Gibbs. Everything was consistent with his daily meds and the drugs they would have given him in the ambulance and at the hospital. Three of them never even circulated. There was nothing suspicious."

Ducky would rule Wheeler's death from natural causes and that would be the end of it. The investigation would be closed, and his body released. There hadn't been a murder. SevNav had orchestrated everything and he and Vance had jumped right in. It hadn't exactly been an illegal order, one they could lawfully refuse, but they could have chosen to not dig so far and so deep and make assumptions until they had more facts. Now his team was on the hot seat too and Abby had been threatened.

"It's going to be okay, Abby." He tried to give her a confident smile and she gave him a tentative one. "I'll see you at the Pentagon at 0840."

OUTSIDE ROOM 9999 AT THE PENTAGON -

Gibbs sat on the bench sipping his coffee. He'd get rid of the cup when they called him, but for now he wasn't wasting a precious drop of the dark roast.

At 0756 Director Vance showed up. He looked terrible, like he hadn't slept in a few days. Gibbs knew he'd been struggling with the loss of his wife and he would continue to struggle, probably for a long time. Having his kids had to help, but it wasn't a cure-all.

"Director?"

So much in that one word.

Leon sat down next to him, sighing heavily. "We smacked the hornets' nest with a stick, Gibbs." He leaned back in a slouch.

So much had happened in a week. Some of it good, most of it not.

"You couldn't tell me over the phone." There was no bitterness in the statement.

Vance didn't bother to look at him. "No."

"I'm locked out of NCIS."

Vance shifted on the bench. "Me too."

Gibbs wondered how the Director gave an order to security to keep himself out of the building, but he didn't ask about that. Instead he wanted to know about Jarvis. if they were in trouble, wouldn't Jarvis be in trouble too? Or maybe Jarvis would be at this meeting to chew them out and make it out that they were to blame for everything. Gibbs almost smacked himself. Of course they were to blame. Yes, Jarvis pushed, but they let him.

"Have you spoken to Secretary Jarvis?"

Vance sounded defeated. "Not since yesterday afternoon when he called to ask me about the case."

"He gonna be here?"

"I don't know."

The closed end corridor was the most boring of any they had seen at the Pentagon. They had gone through the security checkpoint and walked past half a dozen closed doors before finding room 9999. The handwritten paper sign taped to the door told them it was 9999 and when Gibbs tried the door he found it locked. The small window in the door was papered over on the inside so they had no idea what or who was in the room. All they could do was sit down and wait.

Gibbs wondered why they weren't in a corridor close to SecNav's office, but before he thought to ask the door opened and a pretty, smartly dressed woman announced, "Director Vance, Special Agent Gibbs, please come in." No trash receptacle nearby so he left his empty cup sitting on the bench.

The room was nondescript. Nothing on the walls. Nothing on the two tables. Ten chairs were available and the woman motioned for them to sit at the smaller table with two chairs. The other table was longer and wider and positioned closer to an inner door.

She didn't identify herself or say anything else. She just waited.

The door opened and she went out before a woman and four men came in. Vance looked surprised, but not shocked and Gibbs followed his lead by standing. Looking at four of the people he thought, oh yeah, we're in trouble.

tbc

* * *

Thanks for reading. Please review.


	21. Chapter 21

**The door opened and she went out before one woman and four men came in. Vance looked surprised, but not shocked and Gibbs followed his lead by standing. Looking at four of the people he thought, oh yeah, we're in trouble.**

The woman and three men sat down and then Vance and Gibbs sat down. The fourth man stood by the door, a briefcase gripped in his hand.

The most important man in the room nodded to the guy by the door who walked over to the smaller table and set down the briefcase. He opened it, took out two thick stapled documents and two pens and put them on the table in front of Gibbs and Vance. Then the aide returned to his place by the door.

"Director Leon James Vance, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, this private meeting is not being documented or recorded in any way. As far as everyone else is concerned, it never happened. In case you're confused, I'm the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Charles Hingle. On my right is Vice Admiral Debolt, Judge Advocate General of the Navy and Robert Job, Under Secretary of the Navy. On my left is the General Counsel Department of the Navy, Paul Santos."

Gibbs snuck a look at Vance who at the same moment looked at him. Secretary of Defense? No official record? They both knew that any disciplinary action could have been handled easily by the SecNav or in this case, the Under Secretary of the Navy. Clayton Jarvis was conspicuously absent and Gibbs believed SecDef was there to stress how seriously Jarvis and by extension, they, he and Vance, had messed up.

There was a lengthy pause as SecDef looked hard at Vance and Gibbs. When he was satisfied, he continued. "For the past seven days, you have investigated the death of Major General Ronald S. Wheeler. That investigation ends now." He looked long and hard at Vance and Gibbs and then turned his head to his left.

Santos understood and took the lead. "You have become aware of the existence of a unified project that is classified under section 11-C-9 of the National Security Act. I remind you of your oath and ask that you sign the non-disclosure agreement on the table in front of you."

Gibbs and Vance glanced at the first page of the document and then at each other. Holy cow.

"We'll wait while you read it," Admiral Debolt informed them.

Both men knew the Admiral and recognized her disapproval.

A few minutes later, they both signed the forms and the man from the door collected the papers. Both Debolt and Santos looked at the signature pages before letting the aide put them in the briefcase and leave the room.

SecDef reminded them, "You will not discuss the Wheeler case or talk about anything you learned during the investigation. If I find out you had a dream related to anything you think you found out this last week, I'll have your head."

His look meant he was dead serious and both men knew they better keep quiet.

"I understand, Mr. Secretary." Vance still couldn't believe SecDef was handling this personally.

Under Secretary Job spoke next. "You will delete all phone numbers, text messages, voice messages and call logs from your cell phones." His brown eyes bored into Gibbs' blue ones. "You will forget you made or received any phone calls in the last seven days."

Gibbs knew then that they knew everything. The phone call to O'Neill, the hidden lab work results, Tony and Ziva tailing O'Neill, etc. They knew it all.

"Your work computers, desks, book shelves, filing cabinets and lockers are being checked for any information you should not have and if you have anything at your home, I know you both take files home, you should tell us now."

Gibbs and Vance both said they didn't have anything at home. What Gibbs didn't reveal was that he had some things in his truck. He was going to take the file folder into the office, but they wouldn't let him in.

"You will write up by hand, a detailed list of everyone you spoke to in the last seven days. By phone or in person. I expect it on my desk by the end of the day. You will not keep a copy." Job wasn't finished. He was the Under Secretary and technically their boss when Jarvis wasn't around. "We understand that you were acting under orders from Secretary Jarvis, but that does not excuse the way the investigation was handled or your individual conduct."

Gibbs and Vance were glared at as they sat and waited. It was many seconds before Job continued.

"In your pursuit of a suspect for a murder that didn't happen, many people became aware of things they should not have."

Both men knew the unspoken words referred to the secret program or project and O'Neill. The man must really be untouchable.

"You did not properly supervise. You did not use sound judgement." He paused as if searching for the right words. The two men didn't need to be told they didn't keep control of their people. "You are both suspended for the rest of the week and will not be allowed into NCIS until after 0600 Monday."

Suspended? At least not fired. Gibbs wasn't sure the punishment was fair since they were following orders, but then he wanted to smack himself because that's exactly when good men need to stand up and refuse the order they know to be wrong.

"You may not appeal this action."

Can't appeal something that never officially happened. Vance and Gibbs glanced at each other wondering how they would explain being gone at the same time. And not just them, probably the whole team and Abby too. A seminar? A class somewhere they all needed to attend? Yeah, that could work. NOT. the NCIS grapevine and rumor mill probably had them all fired by now or abducted by aliens.

"Director Vance, Deputy Director Craig returned last night and will stay through the weekend. I trust if he needs any guidance that you can help him by phone."

"Yes, sir, I will," Vance promised. He knew Jerome would be ticked off at being called to Washington on such short notice. Oh well, nothing he could do about it. He was a little angry, but knew he should have done something about Jarvis. At least he wasn't fired. Not yet anyway. It was Tuesday and his kids were on spring break, so he'd get to spend some extra time with them. Jarvis wasn't at the meeting and he couldn't help but wonder where he was. Probably suspended too.

"Special Agent Gibbs, are there any cases another team leader needs to know about in order to properly cover the work load for the next six days?"

Gibbs thought for a few seconds. They'd been doing cold cases. Then the Wheeler case. The others during the last week were wrapped up, reports written and submitted. One case had nothing but dead ends and would become a cold case. Nobody was scheduled for a court appearance. JAG would know for sure.

"No, sir. There shouldn't be any problems." He wondered if the suspension was without pay. The meeting never happened so maybe the suspension never happened? His team and Abby were having their own meeting so he knew they were in trouble too. Loss of pay wouldn't hurt him too much, but it would his team. Tony and Ziva especially since they seemed to live paycheck to paycheck most of the time.

SecDef glanced at the others at his table. He seemed ready to close out the meeting. "Leadership and integrity were missing from NCIS this last week. We trust you will keep that from happening in the future."

Gibbs and Vance didn't want to argue about that and he didn't give them a chance to reply.

"Questions?"

Vance and Gibbs both had questions, but they didn't ask them. Instead they replied "No, sir."

Then a surprise. "Comments?"

Gibbs had a few, but he bit his tongue. Vance swallowed to keep from talking. They both replied, "No, Mr. Secretary," and the meeting that never happened was over. They stood up as the others left and the woman from earlier came back in and opened the outside door for them to leave.

The bench outside was empty and Gibbs looked at his watch. It was barely 0825.

"My team and Abby should be here soon. I'm gonna wait for them."

Vance nodded and started walking away. Then he stopped.

"Gibbs, we need to talk before Monday morning."

The senior agent tensed. The last thing he wanted to do was talk. He hated screw-ups, but he agreed. "Sunday? My basement?"

The Director nodded. "I'll call you first."

0825 in Autopsy at NCIS -

Ducky and Jimmy were going through paper files, trying to get them rounded up and organized. It was time to get the documents scanned and put into electronic form and the paper put into evidence boxes. They both hated the kind of work, it was a necessary evil, but the good news was they had no new bodies. When the autopsy doors swished open, they both expected it to be Gibbs or someone coming in to say hi, or tell them about a case. Instead it was Deputy Director Jerome Craig, a special agent from the bull pen, two NCIS security people and two Air Force officers.

Ten minutes later their computers and printer had been examined; files removed, cookies, temporary files and browser history and download history deleted. Their digital cameras were missing memory cards, their shredder was empty, their phones had been checked. Ducky signed the death certificate and everyone left, taking General Wheeler's body with them. Everyone except Craig.

Ducky was irritated. He hated to be out of the loop. Jimmy was confused and a little scared, but mostly curious about what had happened, why it happened and how come Gibbs or Abby or Tony or somebody hadn't warned them. It only took another minute for the ME team to understand a little better about what was going on and that they better keep quiet about it. They had received a stern lecture to not talk about a case that wasn't ever a case.

With some of their paperwork now taken care of for them, Ducky asked Jimmy, "How 'bout a nice soothing cup of tea, Mr. Palmer?"

tbc

* * *

Thanks for reading. Please review.


	22. Chapter 22

About fifteen minutes after Gibbs sat down on the bench he saw Abby and the team coming toward him. They had cut it kind of close.

"Hey, Gibbs," Abby called to him. She was carrying her jacket and looked a little flushed from a brisk walk.

Tony asked the question on all their minds. "What happened?"

Gibbs wasn't about to tell them, not before they had their own meeting. "We'll talk after yours," was all he said.

There was no more time to talk as the door opened and the same woman poked her head out.

"Ms. Abigail Sciuto, please come in."

Abby looked panicked and Gibbs stepped up. "C'mon, Abby, I'll go with you."

At first the woman looked like she would refuse him, but then she nodded and swung the door wider.

Gibbs escorted Abby into the room and the door closed behind them. The gal didn't stay this time. Instead she went out the inside door and closed it.

"What's going on, Gibbs?"

"Now we wait. You want to sit down?"

"Not really. I want to leave," she whined.

Before he could respond the inside door opened and the same people as before came in. They sat down, Abby and Gibbs sat down.

SecDef addressed them. "Special Agent Gibbs, you have no standing in this meeting."

Gibbs understood and said, "I understand, Mr. Secretary." He would stay quiet, but try to offer moral support, because he knew she was going to feel sick.

"Ms. Sciuto, do you understand that he is only allowed to stay as a silent witness and not to defend you?"

Abby nodded meekly. Gibbs scowled a little, but didn't say anything else. He was still a little surprised they had asked for Abby separately.

The officials went through a repeat of the earlier meeting. With tears in her eyes, Abby thought about her oath, signed the non-disclosure agreement and then listened to the instructions about not talking or thinking. Under Secretary Job was pretty rough on her for withholding lab results, lying and not trusting Vance or Gibbs. He reminded her that she had other avenues to pursue when told to do something like that and she chose to not use them. She promised not to do it in the future, if it ever happened again... in the future. She cringed when they said she had been suspended until Monday and that someone was going through her lab, computers, desk, locker, everything.

Gibbs wondered what would have been said if he hadn't stayed. Maybe nothing different since they could have kicked him out.

"Questions, Ms. Sciuto?"

Abby shook her head and said, "No, sir," to the SecDef.

He wasn't finished, the script almost the same. "Any comments?"

She just wanted to get out of there. "No, sir. Thank you, sir."

His glare made her realize she might have sounded sarcastic so she quickly back-pedaled. "I'm sorry, Mr. Secretary. I don't have a comment."

Thankfully she was sincere and sounded sincere and another meeting that never happened was over. The panel left, the woman came in and went to the door.

Abby and Gibbs stepped out, but the door didn't close.

"Special Agent Ziva David. Please come in." She got Ziva's last name right.

Tony stepped in close and announced a little harshly, "I'm next."

Gibbs tried not to smirk. DiNozzo was so obvious. He knew it would disrupt the team, but he also knew his SFA needed to face his feelings for Ziva.

"No, Special Agent DiNozzo, you are not next." She held the door open for Ziva.

"Then you can take us at the same time," Tony demanded.

The woman didn't smile. In fact, she didn't respond to him in any way. "Special Agent David?"

Gibbs caught Ziva's eye, asking if she wanted him to go in with her too. She nodded once and Gibbs told the woman, who agreed immediately, leaving Tony to look not only angry, but perplexed.

In the room the gal didn't leave right away and Gibbs took it to mean that they understood he was standing by his team members. He thought about the panel leaving the room every time before a new person was brought in and decided it was an intimidation factor. He knew it was one that worked too because they did it with suspects in interrogation rooms all the time.

The meeting was about the same except Ziva wasn't nearly as repentant as Abby had been. She signed the non-disclosure agreement and said she'd forget everything and not talk about anything, but then she lost her head, if she'd ever had it, and attempted to argue the merits of staking out the Wheeler home and following General O'Neill. Finally Gibbs pulled her back from the edge with a quiet, but firm, "Ziva!"

Her mouth finally snapped shut and she didn't look pleased.

SecDef had had enough. "Special Agent David, the Wheeler investigation is over. You agreed to not think or speak about it again."

His intense glare got her attention, but it was Under Secretary Job who doled out her punishment.

"You are suspended without pay for thirteen days. Locked out of NCIS until 0600 a week from Monday."

Ziva gasped and looked ready to argue, but Gibbs was prepared and grabbed her forearm where it was resting on the table.

His low growl of, "Don't. Ziva, don't," kept her quiet, but she was obviously very angry.

He was confused about her stupidity. She was former Mossad and knew all about secrecy, classified and don't talk about anything. Oh, d - - m, there it was again. The truth. He knew too. Some of his own Marine file was classified top secret, from the black ops he participated in, and he wouldn't want just anyone looking into it, so why had he pushed to get O'Neill's file? And Wheeler's and Fraiser's? What was it about the special project that had him acting so stupid too?

He remembered Mike telling him again and again that some secrets weren't meant to stay secrets and it was up to decent people to bring them out into the light of day. Was the Air Force project one of those secrets? He was angry with Ziva because she wouldn't let it go for now and snoop later. That was the whole ball of wax. Gibbs had pushed to be read in on projects and missions claiming he needed the information in order to solve a crime, but most times that wasn't true. He realized he was arrogant, like Mike, and stubborn, and believed that whatever the secret was it would be safe with him. He couldn't begin to consider that he didn't need to know about it in the first place. Ziva expressed her desire to know out loud while he schemed in secret and he didn't care. He'd find out and he wouldn't tell anybody. That would work. The meeting drew back his attention when SecDef raised his voice.

"You signed the non-disclosure and then violated the agreement." His words were harsh, but he admitted, "You may appeal your suspension, but keep in mind there are five witnesses." He didn't say that he knew four of the five witnesses were unimpeachable.

Ziva heard five and looked at Gibbs, horrified that he would testify against her. His eyes told her to drop it, drop it now. Her gaze went to the table top.

Under Secretary Job took a non-verbal cue from SecDef and added, "On your return, you will report to Director Vance."

Gibbs took note that Ziva's suspension was without pay while they hadn't said that with him, Vance or Abby. There was no point arguing though, she'd done it to herself and he kept his hand on her arm. He'd help her with rent and was sure she wouldn't go hungry during the almost two weeks. All of them would help her out.

On her return to work, Gibbs suspected there would be a few seminars for her, like ethics in law enforcement and anger management. He also thought she needed a few sessions with a psychologist or psychiatrist, maybe Dr. Rachel. Ziva was still dealing with the loss of her father and the murderer was on the loose. It was only a matter of time before something gave. He knew she and McGee had been looking for Ilan Bodnar, but that didn't change the fact she was still grieving. Maybe the time off would help her focus on the search. Her attention to it and work had left both lacking.

Gibbs knew what was coming and switched hands in order to get a hand on her shoulder too if needed.

Job told her, "Agent David, you may keep your credentials, but you will give your firearm to Gibbs."

He felt her body tense, ready to fly off the chair and his hand went to her shoulder. She kept staring at the table.

"Agent Gibbs, you will keep her weapon secure until your return to NCIS when you will hand it over to Director Vance."

Gibbs nodded his understanding while keeping his hands on Ziva. She got the message and relaxed, just a little.

SecDef must have been a glutton for punishment because he gave her another chance to speak. Or it was a test.

"Agent David, anything else?"

She looked from the table to Gibbs, who tried to look supportive, but he was determined to keep her from further trouble. The Gibbs stare worked because after a few seconds she turned her head to look toward the SecDef and quietly said, "No, sir."

SecDef studied her for several seconds before he was satisfied, but added a warning, similar to the one he gave Gibbs and Vance, about having her head.

The big guys left and the woman stepped in. Gibbs asked Ziva for her gun, knowing that he needed to get it right away. They hadn't insisted he do it with them there, probably thinking Ziva was so angry she might shoot them. He almost laughed when that thought entered his mind.

With Ziva's firearm in his pocket and aware that the meeting had lasted longer than the one with Abby, Gibbs guided Ziva out of the room.

Tony was right there. "What the H*** happened?" Then he saw how upset Ziva was and glared at Gibbs like it had to be his fault.

Gibbs shook his head hoping Tony and Tim wouldn't get into it yet and thankfully the woman was there to call the next person.

"Special Agent Timothy McGee, please come in."

Gibbs stepped up to go with McGee, but he turned to his mentor and said, "I got this, boss. You need to stay with Abby and Ziva."

Abby, tears in her eyes, slouched on the bench looking like the world would end any second. Ziva, tense and angry, looked like she would kill someone any second and Tony's presence was not helping.

Gibbs addressed McGee sincerely. "Are you sure, Tim? Tony can stay with them."

"I'm sure."

Gibbs took note of the confidence and put a hand on the man's shoulder. "You'll do fine. Just keep your head."

Tim smiled and nodded, then followed the woman into the room.

"Talk to me, Ziva," Tony demanded, practically pinning her against a wall.

She evaded him, spit out, "There is nothing to say," and collapsed on the bench next to Abby.

Gibbs moved between DiNozzo and the bench and Tony finally got it. His face softened and he non-verbally indicated to Gibbs that he would back off a little and behave himself. Gibbs suspected that Tony thought Ziva's anger was about being suspended since he knew about Abby and thought Ziva's punishment was the same. Trusting his SFA to go slow, Gibbs stepped away and let Tony try to talk to Ziva.

Trying to joke a little, he suggested, "Just think how many movies we can watch in the next six days. It'll be fun."

Ziva threw her coat to the floor. "Thirteen days, Tony." The anger rolled off her. "I am suspended for thirteen days."

"Whoa," he exclaimed and looked to Gibbs for an explanation as he scooped up her coat.

Gibbs kind of shrugged and looked at Ziva. She should be the one to tell them.

Five minutes later Tim came out of the room and Tony went in alone.

Tim had received the same punishment as Abby and Gibbs and felt pretty good after finding out about Ziva.

With Abby and Gibbs talking privately several feet away, Tim whispered to her. "I know you're upset. I understand. But Ziva, we can use the extra time to track Bodnar." That got her attention. "I can even take a couple of vacation days or use comp time."

Ziva nodded and relaxed a little. McGee was right. There were more important things to occupy her thoughts... and now her time.

When Tony came out he didn't stay. Walking quickly down the corridor, he left them scrambling to get their jackets and coats and follow him.

It wasn't until Tony was outside in the cold morning air that he stopped and stood on the pavement, breathing heavily and staring up into the cloudless sky.

NCIS~SG~NCIS

O'Neill was busy reading the latest budget estimates when his secure phone rang.

"O'Neill."

"It's over."

The President's pronouncement was welcome.

"Do you think they got everything, sir?"

"I doubt it, but I don't think Jarvis or NCIS could have anything that proves the program exists, let alone what it is."

"Let's hope not, Mr. President."

Jack knew the President told Jarvis to take two weeks vacation and then in two or three months he would quietly step down as Secretary of the Navy, citing personal reasons. If he doesn't do as requested, he will be publicly embarrassed when the President announces his firing.

"It looks like they concentrated on you, Jack."

O'Neill grabbed the back of his neck. "A new reason for you to let me retire, sir."

"Jack." It wasn't admonishment. The President wanted and needed Jack and intended to keep him close for as long as he could.

Both men were silent for many seconds then Jack thought about the funeral. Andy had made it home from Iraq, but he couldn't stay forever.

"When will they release Ron's body?"

"Already done. Give Elizabeth a call."

"Thank you, Mr. President."

tbc

* * *

Please review. Thanks for reading.

Note: I don't know anything about NCIS employees and their access to the Pentagon. For this story they have limited access, which means their federal ID gets them in the building. Even Abby. They just can't go everywhere they want. The security checkpoint down from the conference room had been notified and they were allowed into the corridor. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.


	23. Chapter 23

Okay, this is it. The last chapter. Thanks very much for reading and reviewing and following.

Almost forgot. I probably put in too many O'Neill citation examples so I have tried to mark them with *** and that way you can skip past them without reading them if that's what you'd like to do. I'm good with whatever you decide.

* * *

Andy, Chuck, Hank and Jack held their salutes and swallowed hard when they saw Ron's grandsons saluting too. Aaron and David were great kids and Jack felt for the young boys. The white hearse pulled away at a slow pace as small gloved hands found their way to Jack's, gripping tightly. The two children didn't really want to be there and Jack didn't blame them. Memorial services and funerals were things people did because they had to, not because they wanted to. Families and friends close as family have two obligations when it comes down to it - marry 'em and bury 'em. He believed you might be estranged for years, but you had to attend weddings and especially funerals.

The two boys, still tired from the long plane flights the day before, were hanging in there. The last week and a half had been stressful for the family and Jack was glad they could finally get the service out of the way. He didn't mind that Aaron and David gravitated to him. He was a little older than Ron had been, but he had the military cut silver hair and the uniform. And he wasn't a stranger. They'd known him since they were babies. Their sisters, Mary Lee and Madison, had stuck close to Grandma Elizabeth, but the young boys seemed to need a Grandpa, since their own had died. Jack was certain if George Hammond had been there, they would have attached themselves to him... and he to them.

It was Friday and the one hour service at the small neighborhood church in Arlington had gone as well as it could. The bright sun shining through the many stained glass windows was beautiful. The music perfect. The flowers fragrant and lovely. The memorial service was solemn yet uplifting with moments of humor that brought smiles and soft laughter. It was a celebration of a life after all.

Nathan Wheeler eulogized his brother. General Chuck Ellison, Commandant of the Marine Corps, eulogized his fellow Marine. Jack eulogized his close friend. All three told of the husband, father, grandfather and friend who was a quiet hero to his family and a not-so-public hero to the women and men who served with him. His life was all about his love of God, family and country.

The homily was delivered by the Chaplain of the Marine Corps. Scriptures were read by daughters Denise and Lucy. Pallbearers were sons Andy and Marcus, brother Nathan, General Hank Landry, General Ellison and Jack. There could have been eight pallbearers, many military funerals have eight, but the six were willing and felt it was more honor than obligation. It was only from the hearse into the church and back to the hearse again. To someone who didn't know, they were two Airmen, two Marines and two civilians. To them they were sons, brother and three Generals who would miss their friend.

The hearse was taking Ron's body for cremation. His ashes would stay with Elizabeth until she moved back to Colorado where there would be a committal service. That would happen in about three months when she'd worn out her welcome after the new babies were born. Andy was secretly hoping Claudette would go into labor before he had to return to Iraq, but the due date was still three weeks away. He'd been thrilled to see little Kathleen who was at Elizabeth's home with a babysitter. No reason to bring a two-year old to a memorial service. Pam's doctor expected the twins two weeks to a month early, but she was just now at 33 weeks. Marcus was anxious, ready to be a new dad, but sad his own father wouldn't be there.

The 100 plus mourners were milling around, chatting a little before they walked to their cars. Many would make their way to Elizabeth's home for a small reception, but not all. Jack, along with Hank and Chuck, arrived early and greeted almost everyone as they went inside. And now they were outside first with the other pallbearers as friends and family got ready to leave.

It was a chilly day, but no wind so not terribly cold. The boys' ears were turning pink though so Jack began guiding them toward their families who would get them into warm cars. His attention was divided between a safe path for the kids and the other people around him, when he saw a familiar face. A face he didn't want to see and knew he shouldn't be seeing. With hugs and I'll see you in a little while, he deposited David and Aaron with their respective parents. Most everyone else was gone or leaving so Jack caught Landry's eye. Standing with him was Chuck Ellison so he walked over to explain what he was going to do.

The familiar man he'd seen hadn't left. He was next to the truck where Jack had spotted him, putting away his cell phone, so he walked over to have a chat.

"I didn't expect to see you, Special Agent Gibbs." He didn't say 'didn't expect to see you here' because he didn't expect to see him anywhere.

A small shrug and maybe a hint of guilt for being there was all Gibbs revealed.

Jack noticed Gibbs dressed in a nice suit with a tie.

"Were you inside for the service?"

"No, I shouldn't be here at all," he admitted.

"So why are you?"

Gibbs gazed out over the trees where the winding road leading up to the church took the cars back down. It wasn't a huge increase in elevation, but enough to make for a really nice view of the more rural countryside.

Jack waited and finally Gibbs told him, "Maybe I felt like apologizing."

Slipping on his sunglasses, Jack replied, "I take it you used to think apologies mean weakness?"

With a small nod, Gibbs looked right at him. "Yeah, used to."

After a glance to see where Hank and Chuck were, Jack decided to let Gibbs off the hook. In a weird way, a really weird way, Jack understood him and since learning more about him, felt for him, but only just a bit.

"Apology accepted, Gibbs. Now get out of here."

Gibbs shook his head. "General Ellison already saw me. He can't keep quiet."

"Neither should I."

Did Chuck know about Gibbs being suspended? Jack knew because SecDef told him. Chuck knew Gibbs had asked questions about Ron and about him and had tried to wave Gibbs off. So yeah, he knew Gibbs shouldn't be there for the service.

Jack channeled Teal'c and stared at Gibbs for several seconds. He wanted to get into the man's head, without saying anything, to convey to him that it was a unified combatant command established for reasons he didn't need to know. Then smack him upside his head not once but twice and scream at him to forget about it. Go home, forget about me, forget about Ron Wheeler, forget about it all. He had to appeal to the Marine lurking inside the NCIS special agent.

"Gibbs, the people I work with do their jobs with integrity and most importantly, they honor their oath."

Gibbs' eyes told Jack he understood, but would he leave well enough alone? He'd shown up at Ron's funeral when he was still suspended. Could Jack trust him? He wanted to trust him. Did he need to remind him about his own oath?

Gibbs was a Marine. He should get it. He had to get it. Jack hoped he would and was giving him one more chance. If something happened after this he would take the man to the planet where they found the crashed prison ship. It seemed uninhabited and would be a good place to keep him. Jack figured he'd even get The Hammond to remove the Stargate so there'd be no chance of him getting away. Or maybe he'd send him to a planet with the Unas. Send Gibbs' entire team there. Oh, yeah, Jack liked that idea.

"Forget you were here, Gibbs. Forget everything." He gave the man his best Colonel/General stare. Gibbs nodded so Jack said, "I'll talk to General Ellison."

"Thanks, General," and Gibbs offered his hand.

In different circumstances he would have said call me Jack, but this wasn't one of them. He accepted the handshake and walked away, back to where Hank and Chuck were waiting. They'd be okay with him letting Gibbs go this time, but would want to be there when Jack sent him off world.

NCIS-SG-NCIS

Gibbs stopped for a cheeseburger and took the time to write a few things while he waited for the server to bring his take-out order. Ten minutes later he clomped down the steps to his basement after changing quickly from his suit to jeans and t-shirt covered by a sweatshirt. He went right to the cubby where he'd stashed Mike's box, lifting it up and carrying it to the work bench. After a long look at nothing in particular and a few bites of food, he pulled off the lid and started removing papers and files. About halfway through the familiar contents he came to a folder, newer than the others and set it down on the bench, separate from everything else. The box and lid went to the floor to give him more room since he already had a half-eaten burger and bottle of beer on the bench.

He looked at the photos and thought about O'Neill. On this day, the day of Ron Wheeler's memorial service, the General had worn all his ribbons. Maybe not all, now that he thought about it, but many more than he had when Gibbs saw him at the Pentagon. He opened the photo on his phone and pulled the paper from his pants pocket. The one he wrote on at the diner while he waited. The photo was from pretty far away, but with it, his knowledge of ribbons and medals, and his memory, which was still excellent, he knew he could come close to recreating O'Neill's ribbon rack. It never occurred to him that he shouldn't do it.

1 Air Force Cross w/ bronze oak leaf cluster (2nd award)  
2 Defense Distinguished Service Medal w/ 2 bronze OLC (3rd award)  
3 Air Force Distinguished Service Medal w/ 3 bronze OLC (4th award)  
4 Silver Star with two bronze OLC (3rd award)  
5 Defense Superior Service Medal w/ 2 bronze OLC (3rd award)  
6 Airman's medal  
7 Bronze Star Medal w/ 2 bronze OLC and V device (3rd award)  
8 Purple Heart w/ silver OLC (6th award)

Gibbs ate some more burger and sipped his beer. He wasn't halfway yet and already he understood what Fornell said about O'Neill. He was the real deal. Gibbs sketched the rack, starting with six rows of four ribbons and ending with three rows of three. He counted again and was sure 33 was correct. O'Neill also wore the Master Parachutist and Command Space badges that Gibbs remembered. He started writing again, trying to remember if the oak leaves were bronze or silver. It was hard to tell on the small cell phone screen.

9 Defense Meritorious Service Medal  
10 Meritorious Service medal w/ 3 bronze OLC (4th award)  
11 Air Medal w/ 2 bronze OLC (3rd award)  
12 Aerial Achievement Medal  
13 Joint Service Commendation Medal w/ 2 bronze OLC (3rd award)  
14 Air Force Commendation Medal w/ 2 bronze OLC and V device (3rd award)  
15 Joint Service Achievement Medal w/ 3 bronze OLC (4th award)  
16 Air Force Achievement Medal w/ 2 bronze OLC and V device (3rd award)

The burger was gone and only a couple swallows of beer remained. Gibbs stared at his list. He already knew O'Neill had enlisted and then earned his degree to become an officer. The man flourished in Special Ops, lots of black ops too, and in 1997 was picked for whatever it was in Colorado. Thirty-six plus years of service from airman basic to Lieutenant General with two retirements. He sketched in the ribbons and then kept writing, not even thinking about stopping or why he shouldn't be doing it.

17 Presidential Unit Citation w/ 2 bronze OLC  
18 Joint Meritorious Unit Award w/ silver OLC  
19 Air Force Outstanding Unit Award w/ 3 bronze OLC and V device (4th award)  
20 Air Force Organizational Excellence Award w/ 2 bronze OLC and V device (3rd award)  
21 Prisoner of War Medal w/ 2 bronze stars  
22 Combat Readiness Medal w/ 3 bronze OLC (4th award)  
23 Air Force Good Conduct Medal w/ 2 bronze OLC (3rd award)  
24 National Defense Service Medal w/ bronze star (2nd award)  
25 Vietnam Service Medal  
26 Southwest Asia Service Medal w/ bronze star (2nd award)  
27 Armed Forces Service Medal  
28 Air Force Overseas Ribbon - Short Tour w/ 4 bronze OLC and A device (5th award)  
29 Air Force Longevity Service w/ silver OLC and 3 bronze OLC  
30 Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon w/ bronze star  
31 Air Force Training Ribbon  
32 Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal  
33 Kuwait Liberation Medal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with palm

The man had a lot of unit awards, but a big surprise were two POW ribbon awards. Gibbs knew about O'Neill being wounded and left behind, but he wondered what the second award was for. Suddenly he remembered and went back to the folder. McGee had pulled a few of O'Neill's citations from a veterans' site on the internet.

***The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Senior Airman John J. O'Neill, United States Air Force, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in connection with...

***The President of the United States of America, authorized by Title 10, Section 8742, United States Code, takes pride in presenting the Air Force Cross to Senior Airman John J. O'Neill, United States Air Force, for extraordinary heroism in military operations against an opposing...

***The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Air Force Achievement Medal with Valor to Senior Airman John J. O'Neill , United States Air Force. Senior Airman O'Neill distinguished himself by heroism as...

***The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a Second Award of the Air Force Achievement Medal with Valor to Staff Sergeant John J. O'Neill, United States Air Force. Sergeant O'Neill distinguished himself by heroism as...

Gibbs shook his head in wonder and read the citations again noting the one for the Air Force Cross had a Purple Heart medal award attached to it. O'Neill got the citations when he was in pararescue the first time. No wonder they wanted to keep him. No wonder the Air Force saw his potential and got him into college so he could get a degree and become an officer. In basic military training he'd been identified as a natural leader and in much of special operations you work as a team. McGee had found many citations, but it only made Gibbs wonder how many more were secret or the description hazy to cover up what really happened and where.

***The Secretary of the Air Force of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Air Force Commendation Medal with Combat "V" to Lieutenant John J. O'Neill, United States Air Force, for valorous actions during...

***The Secretary of the Air Force of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a Second Award of the Air Force Commendation Medal with Combat "V" to First Lieutenant John J. O'Neill, United States Air Force, for valorous actions during...

***The President of the United States of America, authorized by Executive Order 11046, takes pleasure in presenting the Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V" to Major John J. O'Neill, United States Air Force, for heroism in connection with military operations...

***The President of the United States of America, authorized by Executive Order 11046, takes pleasure in presenting a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a Second Award of the Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V" to Lieutenant Colonel John J. O'Neill, United States Air Force, for heroism in connection with military operations...

***Under the provisions of Department of Defense 1348.33-M, the Secretary of Defense has awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal to Lieutenant Colonel John J. O'Neill, United States Air Force, for exceptionally superior service while serving as...

Gibbs read it again. Defense Superior Service Medals were usually only for Brigadiers and higher yet O'Neill had been a Lt. Colonel. There were always exceptions, and Gibbs didn't think O'Neill got it for anything less than a spectacular reason. The more he read, the more extraordinary he believed O'Neill to be. The next one got his attention too. Defense Distinguished Service Medals went to senior officers and Air Force Distinguished Service Medals usually went to Major Generals or above, yet O'Neill got one when he was a Light Colonel. Yep, the man was one H*** of a leader.

***The Secretary of Defense of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Defense Distinguished Service Medal to Colonel John J. O'Neill, United States Air Force, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service in a position of great responsibility to the Government of the United States as...

***The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal to Lieutenant Colonel John J. O'Neill, United States Air Force, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service in a position of great responsibility to the Government of…

General Chuck Ellison knew about O'Neill. Yeah, thought Gibbs, he was closer to Ron Wheeler and O'Neill than he'd let on when Gibbs went to speak to him. Tobias knew about O'Neill, though Gibbs guessed Ellison knew a lot more than Tobias did. Jack O'Neill was a hero when he was enlisted and a hero through his whole career. He didn't get his medals and sit back to let everybody else earn theirs. He had been in the thick of things from his first pararescue days all the way until whatever he was involved with now. Ellison called it a special project. SecDef called it a unified project. The last three citations McGee printed were from the last two or three years.

***The Secretary of Defense of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a Third Defense Distinguished Service Medal to Lieutenant General John J. O'Neill, United States Air Force, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service in a position of great responsibility to…

***Under the provisions of Department of Defense 1348.33-M, the Secretary of Defense of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a Third Award of the Defense Superior Service Medal to Lieutenant General John J. O'Neill, United States Air Force, for exceptionally…

***The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a Fourth Award of the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal to Lieutenant General John J. O'Neill, United States Air Force, for exceptionally meritorious…

Gibbs looked at the photos again. O'Neill as a Colonel with Hammond at the retirement of the Peterson base commander. O'Neill with two presidents at Hammond's funeral. He thought about O'Neill at Wheeler's home with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Secretary of Defense. The same SecDef who three days ago slapped him and his team. Vance and Abby too. The unified project had been ongoing from 1997 until now, over 15 years. What could they be doing for that long and how had they managed to keep it secret? Where did they get their funding? Who knew about it? Somebody with government purse strings had to know. O'Neill was involved the entire time. He knew everything. A three star that very few people know anything about. Gibbs was more curious than ever about the top secret valor of the unified project.

Why couldn't he let it go? Something inside him said keep looking, keep asking, keep wondering about the unified project. Marines and Airmen working together on something very important. He stared at the photos and his drawing. O'Neill was the clue and the key to finding out. Glancing at his watch he saw that it was almost 1430 and Tony would be stopping by to talk. He hadn't said that he would, but Gibbs knew. Tony was still mad about the suspension and worried about Ziva. He needed to vent and Gibbs would let him.

The box and lid were still on the floor, so Gibbs lifted them up to the bench. He placed the photos back in the file folder along with the papers, both his and the ones McGee printed for him, and wrote the words MC/AF UNIFIED PROJECT on the front. He would keep the file with all the others Mike had given him because you just never knew when you'd need an ace. For now he figured to play the game by the rules, but keep his ears and eyes open.

Placing the box back in its hidden cubby, Gibbs imagined Mike standing there growling, "Careful, Probie! That critter you grabbed has got a big stinger."

The End

* * *

Thanks for reading. Please review.

Note: In my world, Jack O'Neill is a hero like no other. He has more medals, ribbons, citations, etc, than anybody can count. Most he doesn't wear and many others have never been officially awarded because of the secrecy of the Stargate.

Note2: A cubby is just a word, short for cubby-hole. We grew up using the shortened version.


End file.
